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Pharmacoeconomic profile of paclitaxel as a first‐line treatment for patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma: A lifetime cost‐effectiveness analysis
Author(s) -
Messori Andrea,
Trippoli Sabrina,
Becagli Paola,
Tendi Enrico
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19961201)78:11<2366::aid-cncr15>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - medicine , paclitaxel , cisplatin , oncology , regimen , chemotherapy , cost effectiveness , pharmacoeconomics , cost effectiveness analysis , surgery , intensive care medicine , risk analysis (engineering)
BACKGROUND Analysis of published survival curves has recently been proposed as a method for conducting incremental cost‐effectiveness analysis in which two treatments are compared with each other in terms of cost per year of life gained. In patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma, the combination of paclitaxel and cisplatin has been reported to improve survival more significantly than standard therapy with cyclophosphamide and cisplatin. However, the high cost of paclitaxel indicates a need for an evaluation of the pharmacoeconomic profile of these treatments. METHODS The authors conducted an incremental cost‐effectiveness analysis to assess the paclitaxel‐based regimen in terms of cost per year of life gained. The analysis utilized data from a published controlled long term trial involving 184 patients treated with paclitaxel and cisplatin and 202 patients treated with cyclophosphamide and cisplatin. Gompertz' law was employed to obtain the lifetime estimate of the years gained by patients given the first treatment in comparison with patients given the second. RESULTS The paclitaxel‐based treatment was found to improve life expectancy by 46 years for every 100 patients. Costs of chemotherapy were higher in the paclitaxel group than in the standard‐therapy group (the cost difference was $901,723 for every 100 patients; costs for treating febrile neutropenia induced by chemotherapy were taken into account). On the basis of these data of cost and effectiveness, the administration of paclitaxel and cisplatin was found to imply a cost per year of life gained of $19,603 more than standard chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS The pharmacoeconomic profile of paclitaxel compares favorably with economic data previously calculated for other types of pharmacologic treatment. Cancer 1996;78:2366‐73.