Back to Journals » ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research » Volume 4

Economic evaluation of bevacizumab in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Authors Chien , Shih T

Received 5 June 2012

Accepted for publication 22 June 2012

Published 25 July 2012 Volume 2012:4 Pages 201—208

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/CEOR.S27770

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 2



Chun-Ru Chien,1,2 Ya-Chen Tina Shih3

1Department of Radiation Oncology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 2School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; 3Section of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Background: Delivering affordable cancer care is becoming increasingly important. Bevacizumab (BEV) is a costly molecular targeted agent effective for a variety of cancer including lung cancer. The objective of this review is to assess published economic evaluation of BEV in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: A literature search in PubMed, Cochrane, and the Health Technology Assessment reports for English-language publications before February 2012 was performed. Studies were independently screened by two reviewers, and eight publications were included in the review. The results of these eight articles were tabulated and all cost estimates were reported in 2011 US dollars.
Results: Among the eight articles, three were cost studies and five were cost-effectiveness/utility analysis. For first-line treatment, BEV-containing regimen was reported to be the most costly regimen in one study but cost saving when compared with pemetrexed/cisplatin in another study. When compared with other regimens, BEV-containing regimen was reported to be cost effective in two cost-effectiveness studies (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio [ICER] in the range of US$30,318–US$54,317 per life year) but not cost effective in the other three studies (ICER over US$300,000 per life year).
Conclusion: In this review of economic evaluation of BEV in the treatment of NSCLC, it was found that the literature was not conclusive on the economic benefit of BEV. The role of BEV in other treatment settings for NSCLC was unknown. Further studies, such as clinical trials with adequate power to compare the efficacy between low dose and high dose BEV, potential impact of predictive biomarkers for BEV, and comprehensive economic evaluation will strengthen the current state of knowledge on the economic value of BEV in NSCLC.

Keywords: health economic evaluation, cancer care, cost effectiveness

Creative Commons License © 2012 The Author(s). This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.