Social value of a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) in Spain: the point of view of oncologists

PURPOSE: The economic situation showed that the resources devoted to health spending are limited, making rationalisation of their consumption necessary. The relevance of pharmacoeconomic analyses is becoming crucial. The ECO Foundation, promoting the quality of oncology care, set out to analyse the consensus on the new therapeutic targets inclusion and the integration of pharmacoeconomics when evaluating their effectiveness. METHODS: Study about pharmacoeconomic estimations was performed during the first ECO-Seminar (2010). It was developed using a modified Delphi method, in four stages: (1) committee coordinator establishment, (2) expert-panel selection, (3) preparation and submission of survey (1 question) by email, and (4) analysis of the degree of consensus reached. RESULTS: Results were obtained from surveys completed by 35 experts. Regarding the tolerable annual cost for the approval of new drugs, 68.8 % of the respondents considered a cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained between 30,000 and 100,000 acceptable (34.4 % 30,000-60,000; 34.4 % 60,000-100,000), 21.9 % of the respondents found costs between 100,000-150,000/QALY and 9.3 % of the respondents found costs above 150,000/QALY acceptable. CONCLUSIONS: The costs of new drugs are higher than traditional treatments, making it a priority to identify subgroups of patients with specific molecular profiles as candidates for higher-efficiency-targeted therapies. The allocation of the available resources to the most effective interventions, to achieve the best clinical outcomes with lower costs and best subjective profile possible, allows expenditure to be rationalised. Pharmacoeconomic studies are a basic tool for obtaining better health outcomes according to the available resources, while also considering the other needs of the population (AU)

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Oncological translational research in the Spanish national health system: the INTRO study

OBJECTIVES: Under the auspices of the Foundation for Excellence and Quality in Oncology (ECO), the Translational Research in Oncology Medical Services Study (INTRO) was conducted with the aim of describing the current state of, and future expectations for translational cancer research in Spanish medical centres. The first step in the investigation was intended to analyse the current condition of the national Medical Oncology Services network by examining different aspects of the oncology research field. METHODS: A descriptive and observational multicentre study was performed at a statewide level; information was collected by surveying a cross-section of all those responsible for Medical Oncology Services in Spain. RESULTS: The survey was completed by key informants, who were selected independently by each service, between September 2010 and April 2011. We were able to gather comprehensive data from a total of 27 Spanish hospitals. These data enabled us to describe the allocation of human and material resources devoted to clinical and translational research across the Medical Oncology Services and to describe the organisational and functional components of these services and units. These data included information pertaining to the activities developed, their funding sources, and their functional dependence on other internal or external bodies. Finally, we explored the degree of dissemination and use of some specific techniques used for the genetic diagnosis of cancer, which have recently been introduced in Medical Oncology within the Spanish healthcare system. CONCLUSIONS:A wide range of variability exists between different oncology services in Spanish hospitals. Time should be spent reflecting on the need and opportunities for improvement in the development of translational research within the field of oncology (AU)

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Tratamiento de los linfomas no hodgkinianos indolentes / Treatment of indolent non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas

Los linfomas no hodgkinianos (LNH) son un conjunto muy heterogéneo de procesos con distintas características clínicas y anatomopatológicas. El 80% de estos linfomas son de origen B y sólo un 20% T. Los B expresan el antígeno CD20, una diana clave para el tratamiento actual con anticuerpos monoclonales. En el grupo de linfomas indolentes, los estadios clínicos localizados (estadios I y II) representan el 20%, siendo sólo estadios patológicos un 10%. Las posibilidades de curación se sitúan en un 50-70% con radioterapia y/o quimioterapia. Los estadios avanzados III-IV, incluyendo el IIB, representan el 80-90% de los casos y son candidatos a tratamientos sistémicos con inmunoquimioterapia para los de fenotipo B. El tratamiento de rescate es uno de los problemas más importantes en estos linfomas, muchos requieren tratamiento de segunda línea, con supervivencias inferiores a cinco años, a pesar del 50% de respuestas. Contempla protocolos más agresivos de inmunoquimioterapia, incluyendo las altas dosis y radioinmunoquimioterapia (AU)

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas (NHLs) are a heterogeneous group of entities with different pathologies. A total of 80% of these lymphomas are B-cell origin and only 20% T-cell. B-cell lymphomas express CD-20 antigen, a specific target for the current treatment with monoclonal antibodies. Indolent lymphomas in localized stages (I and II) account for 20%, only 10% being in pathological stages. The possibilities for cure with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy are approximately 50-70%. Advanced stages (IIB, III and IV) of phenotype B types account for 80-90% of the cases and are candidates for systemic treatments with immunochemotherapy for those of phenotype B. Rescue treatment is one of the most important problems in this type of lymphomas, many of them needing second line treatments, with survival rates under five years, in spite of the 50% response rate. In these cases, immunochemotherapy includes more aggressive regimens, high-dose chemotherapy and combined chemoim-munoradiotherapy (AU)

Tratamiento de los linfomas no hodgkinianos agresivos / Treatment of aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas

Los linfomas agresivos en estadios localizados I y II, sin masas voluminosas y con un Índice Pronóstico Internacional (IPI) bajo (30% de los casos) tienen altas posibilidades de curación, cerca del 80% con el tratamiento combinado de quimioterapia tipo CHOP (3-4 ciclos) seguido de radioterapia (RT) sobre áreas afectas. En los linfomas agresivos localizados con signos de mal pronóstico o estadios avanzados (III-IV), el tratamiento es la inmunoquimioterapia con rituximab. Como segunda línea en pacientes quimiosensibles (DHAP, ESHAP, MINE, VIM, DICE, etc., más rituximab) deben valorarse las altas dosis con soporte hematopoyético, no así en los refractarios (AU)

Aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) in localized stages I and II, without bulky areas and a fair International Prognostic Factor (IPI) (30% of all cases) have high possibilities of cure (80%) when treated with combined chemotherapy, CHOP or CHOP-like (3-4 courses) followed by locoregional radiation therapy. Localized aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas with signs of poor prognosis or advanced stages (III and IV) must be treated with rituximab-containing immunochemotherapy. As second line in responding patients (DHAP, ESHAP, MINE, VIM, DICE, etc., and rituximab) high doses chemotherapy with hematopoietic growth factor support should be considered, although not in refractory patients (AU)