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Rationale and budget impact of bimonthly use of Cetuximab in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer
Author(s) -
Mennini FS,
Marcellusi A,
Fabiano G,
Platini F,
Bossi P
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.25481
Subject(s) - cetuximab , medicine , head and neck cancer , schedule , oncology , cancer , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , head and neck , surgery , computer science , colorectal cancer , operating system
Background In recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer, Cetuximab is administered once a week, followed by weekly doses. We present the clinical rationale of a different schedule of maintenance Cetuximab and we estimate the potential economic benefits on the health care budget from a societal perspective in Italy. Methods A budget impact (BI) excel‐based model was developed comparing a base case scenario of 100% weekly administration with a dose of 250 mg/m 2 to an every‐other‐week (EOW) administration at 50% or 100% with a dose of 500 mg/m 2 . Results In the EOW, 50% scenario it was calculated a cost reduction of €347 000 of which 70% attributable to indirect costs, increasing to €694 000 after 4 months. Conclusions In our analysis, we showed that this simplified schedule could also reduce the costs of treatments both for the health system (direct costs) and for the society (indirect costs).