A decade of new cancer drugs: good value for money

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 680 - 15 Jun 2013

A decade of new cancer drugs:good value for money

Despite high costs, many newly approved cancertherapies have favourable incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) and represent "relativelygood value for money", according to researchers in theUSA who analysed findings of cost-utility analyses(CUAs) published over a ≈10-year period.

The Tufts Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry wassystematically searched for CUAs on cancer-relatedtreatment published from 2000 to 2010, whichidentified 493 original studies, the majority of whichwere published since 2006. CUAs were available formore than half of cancer therapies approved by the FDAduring the study period, and 55% of the analyses thatfocused on newly approved treatments were industrysponsored.

The median ICERs (2010 values) were $US28 000 perQALY gained for all CUAs and $29 000 per QALY gainedfor those focusing on cancer therapies approved by theFDA from 2000 to 2010. For newly approved therapies,industry sponsorship was associated with morefavourable ICERs than non-industry sponsored CUAs($23 000 vs $49 000 per QALY gained; p = 0.01).Although overall results suggest that many newlyapproved cancer therapies in the USA are cost effective,the study authors also note that, despite the increasingnumber of CUAs in this area, there are still many newcancer treatments without published CUAs.Winn A, et al. Cost-Effectiveness of FDA-Approved Cancer Drugsince 2000. 18thAnnual International Meeting of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomicsand Outcomes Research : abstr. PCN74, 18 May 2013. 803088456

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 15 Jun 2013 No. 6801173-5503/10/0680-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved