Cost-Effectiveness of Second-Line Treatments for Metastatic Renal-Cell Carcinoma

Purpose

To assess the pharmacologic costs of second-line treatments for metastatic renal-cell cancer (mRCC).

Methods

The present evaluation was restricted to pivotal phase 3 randomized controlled trials in second-line for mRCC. We calculated the pharmacologic costs necessary to get the benefit in progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) for each trial. The costs of drugs are at the pharmacy of our hospital and are expressed in euros.

Results

Our analysis evaluated 5 phase 3 randomized controlled trials including 3112 patients. The lowest cost per month of progression-free survival and OS gained was associated with the use of cabozantinib (€2006 and €1473, respectively), while everolimus had the highest cost per month of OS gained (€28,590).

Conclusion

Combining pharmacologic costs of drugs with the measure of efficacy represented by OS, cabozantinib is a cost-effective second-line treatments for patients with mRCC.