ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Pembrolizumab is a new drug approved in several countries for second-line therapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) being programmed cell death ligand (PD-L1) positive. This drug has a high cost, and the cost-effectiveness ratio has been debated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The budget impact to the Northern Norwegian Regional Health Authority trust of implementing pembrolizumab in second-line therapy in patients with PD-L1-positive NSCLC was calculated. A model was developed employing data from the Cancer Registry of Norway, the KEYNOTE-010 study, the price list from The Hospital Pharmacy of North Norway, the cost of analysing PD-L1 expression and the cost of travelling. Today's cost of second-line therapy was compared with the new standard employing pembrolizumab. The sale price of pembrolizumab in Norway was not published due to price confidentiality. Norwegian krone (NKr) was converted into Euros () at a rate of 1=Nkr 8.8138. (Bank of Norway, 21 February 2017). RESULTS: 105 new patients were identified available for pembrolizumab per year. The annual cost of pembrolizumab was 5.2 million, hospital pharmacy administration costs 0.1 million, PD-L1 testing 0.3 million, oncologist/pulmonologist/nurses 0.2 million, radiology 0.06 million and transportation 0.4 million. Savings due to avoided present second-line therapy was calculated 0.4 million. Consequently, the cost of implementing pembrolizumab was 5.5 million and the annual budget impact was 5.0 million. A mean gain of at least 9 months per patient treated was necessary to make pembrolizumab cost-effective. CONCLUSIONS: The net budget impact of pembrolizumab was 5.0 million. The expenditure could not be indicated cost-effective. Price confidentiality is a growing problem in health economics and it has become a 'menu without prices' setting.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: It is challenging to obtain a similar access to positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET-CT) within the whole region served. In the subarctic and arctic region of Norway, significant distances, weather conditions and seasonable darkness have been challenging when the health care provider has aimed for a high quality PET-CT service with similar availability to all inhabitants. METHODS: The PET-CT service at the University Hospital of North Norway (UNN) was established in May 2010. The glucose analogue tracer fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) was delivered from Helsinki, Finland. An ambulatory PET-CT scanner was initially employed and a permanent local one was introduced in October 2011. In March 2014, we analysed retrospectively all data on the PET-CT exams performed at the Section of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology during a 32 months time period 2010-13. The following patient data were recorded: gender, age, diagnosis, residence and distance of travelling. There were in total 796 exams in 706 patients. RESULTS: Four hundred sixty-one PET-CT exams per million inhabitants were, on average, performed per year. Lung cancer (32.7%), malignant melanoma (11.3%), colorectal cancer (10.9%) and lymphoma (9.7%) constituted two-thirds of all exams. Three-fourths were males and the median age was 63.5 years (range 15.2-91.4 years). The access to PET-CT exam varied within the region. The southern county (Nordland) experienced a significantly less access (p < 0.0001) to the regional service. Except for malignant melanoma, this finding was observed in all major cancer subgroups. In colorectal cancer and lymphoma a lower consumption of PET-CT was also observed in the northeastern county (Finnmark). Patients' mean distance of travelling by car (one way) was 373 km (median 313 km, range 5-936 km). CONCLUSION: PET-CT was not similarly available within the region. Especially, inhabitants in the southern county experienced less access to the regional service. National and regional standards of care, new scanners and improved collaboration between hospital trusts may alter this situation.
