title: Pharmacoeconomic benefit of cisplatin and etoposide chemoregimen for metastatic non small cell lung cancer: An Indian study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The incidence of lung cancer is rising in developing countries like India. Due to unaffordability among the low socioeconomic status (SES) patients, there is a significant delay in seeking appropriate medical treatment due to which a high proportion of patients present in an advanced/metastatic stage and the outcomes are poor.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this study, we studied the progression-free survival (PFS) and the pharmacoeconomic benefits with the cisplatin plus etoposide (EtoP) chemo regimen and compared it with the current generation chemo regimen.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective analysis of metastatic nonsmall cell lung cancer patients who received one or more cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy between 2011 and 2014.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 304 patients, 56.6% of the patients were of the low SES. Of the low socioeconomic group patients, 67.45% and 31.4% received etoposide and paclitaxel platinum doublet combination regimen as first line, respectively. The mean PFS with the etoposide, paclitaxel, pemetrexed, and gemcitabine platinum-based doublet regimens were 9.35, 10, 10.76, and 9.83 months, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed a statistically significant initial survival with the first line EtoP cisplatin regimen for the initial 6 months of starting chemotherapy in comparison with the other regimens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed a substantial pharmacoeconomic benefit with the cisplatin and etoposide chemo regimen in the lower socioeconomic group of patients. We believe that this is the first pharmacoeconomic study on metastatic non small cell lung treatment of great relevance to countries with limited resources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Mangesh P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Kamath
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lakshmaiah
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: K Govind
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Babu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Loknatha
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Linu A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Suresh Mc
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Babu
keywords: Cisplatin and etoposide; lower socioeconomic status; metastatic nonsmall lung cancer; pharmacoeconomics