Cost-effectiveness analysis of serplulimab combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of serplulimab combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma from the perspective of the Chinese healthcare system. METHODS A partitioned survival model with three health states was constructed for cost-effectiveness analysis. Clinical data were extracted from ASTRUM- 007. Information on parameters such as cost and health utility was derived from related websites and published literature. The quality-adjusted life years （QALYs） was used as the output index to calculate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio （ICER）， and then compared with three times the per capita gross domestic product （GDP） in China to judge whether it was cost-effective. One- way sensitivity analysis and probabilistic sensitivity analysis were performed to evaluate the robustness of the model； the cost- effectiveness of applying this plan to subgroup patients with programmed cell death-ligand 1 combined positive score （PD-L1 CPS） ≥10 and the scheme in the context of charitable drug donations was explored. RESULTS Among advanced or metastatic oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients and patients with PD-L1 CPS ≥10， serplulimab combined with chemotherapy could improve health outcomes with an augmentation of cost， compared with placebo combined with chemotherapy，resulting the ICERs were 599 623.64 yuan/QALY and 629 121.57 yuan/QALY， respectively. Therefore， serplulimab combined with chemotherapy was not cost-effective. Sensitivity analysis of single factor showed that the costs of serplulimab were the crucial factor affecting the ICER； probabilistic sensitivity analysis demonstrated basic analysis results were relatively robust. The results of scenario analysis showed that when all patients met the requirements of the charitable drug donation program， serplulimab combined with chemotherapy was cost-effective； the economic outcome of this scheme was reversed compared with the results of the basic analysis. CONCLUSIONS From Chinese healthcare perspective， first-line treatment with serplulimab in combination with chemotherapy is not a cost-effective option for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma， but it may be an economic option to implement a charitable drug donation program for all patients or if the price of serplulimab is significantly reduced.