{"title":"Cost-effectiveness of cemiplimab plus chemotherapy vs pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.","authors":"Xiangzhong Xue, Surachat Ngorsuraches, Brandon Johnson, Jingyi Zheng, Jingjing Qian","doi":"10.18553/jmcp.2025.31.2.137","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration approved cemiplimab in combination with chemotherapy (CCT) as a first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC). However, whether CCT presents a cost-effective alternative to the previously preferred first-line treatment, pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy (PCT), remains uncertain.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of CCT vs PCT as the first-line treatment for aNSCLC from a US health care payer perspective.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A 3-state partitioned survival model with a 10-year horizon was constructed. Clinical data were derived from the EMPOWER-Lung 3, KEYNOTE-407, and KEYNOTE-189 trials. Costs and quality of life were obtained from published 2024 US list prices and literature. The cost, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were calculated. All outcomes were discounted at a rate of 3% per year. Scenario analyses, deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, and subgroup analyses were performed for patients with different programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) levels.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the base-case analysis, the total cost of PCT was $207,926 with 1.609 QALYs, whereas CCT had a total cost of $175,247 with 1.657 QALYs. Results from the scenario analyses were consistent with the base-case analysis, indicating that CCT was a dominant treatment strategy over PCT (ICER =-$675,304 per QALY). The cost of pembrolizumab highly impacted the ICER. At a willingness-to-pay threshold of $150,000 per QALY, CCT would be accepted as a cost-effective option 96.9% of the time. In subgroup analyses, CCT remained a dominant alternative to PCT for patients with PD-L1 levels of at least 50% and 1%-49%.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that CCT is a dominant first-line treatment option for aNSCLC with PD-L1 levels of at least 1% compared with PCT.</p>","PeriodicalId":16170,"journal":{"name":"Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy","volume":"31 2","pages":"137-146"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11855296/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2025.31.2.137","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Background: In 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration approved cemiplimab in combination with chemotherapy (CCT) as a first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC). However, whether CCT presents a cost-effective alternative to the previously preferred first-line treatment, pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy (PCT), remains uncertain.
Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of CCT vs PCT as the first-line treatment for aNSCLC from a US health care payer perspective.
Methods: A 3-state partitioned survival model with a 10-year horizon was constructed. Clinical data were derived from the EMPOWER-Lung 3, KEYNOTE-407, and KEYNOTE-189 trials. Costs and quality of life were obtained from published 2024 US list prices and literature. The cost, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were calculated. All outcomes were discounted at a rate of 3% per year. Scenario analyses, deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, and subgroup analyses were performed for patients with different programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) levels.
Results: In the base-case analysis, the total cost of PCT was $207,926 with 1.609 QALYs, whereas CCT had a total cost of $175,247 with 1.657 QALYs. Results from the scenario analyses were consistent with the base-case analysis, indicating that CCT was a dominant treatment strategy over PCT (ICER =-$675,304 per QALY). The cost of pembrolizumab highly impacted the ICER. At a willingness-to-pay threshold of $150,000 per QALY, CCT would be accepted as a cost-effective option 96.9% of the time. In subgroup analyses, CCT remained a dominant alternative to PCT for patients with PD-L1 levels of at least 50% and 1%-49%.
Conclusions: This cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that CCT is a dominant first-line treatment option for aNSCLC with PD-L1 levels of at least 1% compared with PCT.
期刊介绍:
JMCP welcomes research studies conducted outside of the United States that are relevant to our readership. Our audience is primarily concerned with designing policies of formulary coverage, health benefit design, and pharmaceutical programs that are based on evidence from large populations of people. Studies of pharmacist interventions conducted outside the United States that have already been extensively studied within the United States and studies of small sample sizes in non-managed care environments outside of the United States (e.g., hospitals or community pharmacies) are generally of low interest to our readership. However, studies of health outcomes and costs assessed in large populations that provide evidence for formulary coverage, health benefit design, and pharmaceutical programs are of high interest to JMCP’s readership.