Treatment of follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with or without rituximab: cost-effectiveness and value of information based on a 5-year follow-up.
BACKGROUND
Rituximab induction together with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) and rituximab maintenance (RCHOP-R) resulted to significant progression-free survival (PFS) benefit in comparison to RCHOP in the EORTC20981 trial of relapsed/refractory follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (FL). However, the overall survival (OS) difference between RCHOP-R and RCHOP was insignificant. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of RCHOP, RCHOP-R, and CHOP in the treatment of relapsed/refractory FL.


METHODS
A lifetime Markov modeling based on the 5-year EORTC20981 survivals (Weibull regressions) was carried out from the public health care payer perspective. Finnish costs (drug, routine, adverse event, and relapse management) were employed. The main outcomes were incremental cost (€2008) per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), progression-free year (PFY), and life-years gained (LYG). Analyses included cost-effectiveness acceptability frontier and multinomial expected value of perfect information (mEVPI).


RESULTS
RCHOP-R resulted to OS (PFS) benefit compared with RCHOP and CHOP: 6 (10) and 17 (25) months, respectively. The incremental costs per QALY gained/LYG/PFY gained were €18 147/€16 380/€10 416 for RCHOP-R versus RCHOP (mEVPI €5196); €14 360/€13 041/€8976 for RCHOP-R versus CHOP (mEVPI €1986); and €12 123/€11 049/€8004 for RCHOP versus CHOP (mEVPI €1,240). RCHOP-R was the optimal option when the willingness to pay per QALY gained exceeded €18 399.


CONCLUSIONS
RCHOP-R is a potentially cost-effective treatment option for the FL.
ESiOR Oy. Electronic address: erkki.soini@esior.fi.
E J O
EJO
Soini
ESiOR Oy; School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland.
J A
JA
Martikainen
Department of Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital and University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland.
T
T
Nousiainen
D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D008390:Markov Chains; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011788:Quality of Life; D012008:Recurrence; D000069283:Rituximab; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014750:Vincristine / Q000627:therapeutic use
D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D000069283:Rituximab; D014750:Vincristine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D011241:Prednisone