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A comprehensive review of economic evaluations of therapeutic drug monitoring interventions for cancer treatments
Author(s) -
Vithanachchi Dinusha T.,
Maujean Annick,
Downes Martin J.,
Scuffham Paul
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
british journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.216
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1365-2125
pISSN - 0306-5251
DOI - 10.1111/bcp.14494
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , checklist , medicine , economic evaluation , medline , cost effectiveness , health care , intensive care medicine , risk analysis (engineering) , nursing , pathology , psychology , political science , law , economics , cognitive psychology , economic growth
Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of cancer drugs has been shown to improve treatment effectiveness and safety. The aim of this paper was to comprehensively review economic evaluations of TDM interventions for cancer drugs. Searches were conducted in 4 electronic databases, Medline, EMBASE, and Centre for Reviews and Dissemination databases (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database), from their inception to June 2019. Studies were included if they were economic evaluations of TDM interventions for an active cancer treatment. The quality of reporting of economic evaluations was assessed using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS checklist). Of the 11 publications identified, imatinib with TDM and 5‐fluorouracil with TDM were the most commonly assessed interventions (4 publications each). Overall study quality was good, with publications meeting 61 to 91% (median 80%) of CHEERS checklist criteria. A variety of studies were used to estimate the clinical effectiveness inputs for the cost effectiveness models. All publications considered TDM to be cost‐effective based on an incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio below the willingness to pay threshold (64%) or being cost‐saving (36%). TDM interventions were considered cost‐effective across the economic evaluations. Further clinical research assessing the impact of TDM on overall survival or other long‐term health outcomes may enhance the evidence base for TDM in oncology. Future economic evaluations of TDM should explicitly consider uncertainty in the underlying clinical evidence and incorporate changes in the use of newer targeted drugs that form the current standard of care.