Zheng H, et al. – The cost–effectiveness of adding B to first–line paclitaxel–carboplatin (PC) induction and continuation maintenance therapy from a Chinese perspective was assessed in this study. Even when an assistance program was provided, the addition of B to first–line PC induction and maintenance therapy was not determined to be a cost–effective strategy for metastatic non–squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in China.

Methods

• In order to estimate the cost and effectiveness of B + PC in the induction and maintenance therapy of patients with metastatic non-squamous NSCLC, a Markov model was developed.
• In the Chinese setting, costs were calculated.
• In addition, health outcomes derived from the BEYOND trial were measured as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).
• Researchers performed a one-way sensitivity analysis to explore the impact of various parameters in the study.

Results

• In comparison to the PC treatment, they highlighted the B + PC treatment as more costly ($112,943.40 versus $32,171.43) and more effective (1.07 QALYs versus 0.80 QALYs).
• An incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $299,155.44 per QALY was occurred after adding B to the PC regimen for non-squamous NSCLC.
• It exceeded the accepted societal willingness-to-pay threshold ($23,970.00) for China.
• The most sensitive factors in the model were the duration of progression-free survival (PFS) for the B + PC group, the cost of the PFS state for B + PC group and the price of B.