Cost-effectiveness of additional serplulimab to chemotherapy in metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer patients

Front Immunol. 2024 Apr 22:15:1382088. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1382088. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of adding serplulimab to chemotherapy for metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in a first-line setting from a Chinese perspective.

Methods: A three-health state partitioned survival model was constructed to simulate disease development. The clinical data used in the model were derived from the ASTRUM-004 clinical trial. Only direct medical costs were included, and the utilities were derived from published literature. The quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were employed to evaluate health outcomes. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was performed to verify the robustness of the results.

Results: Compared with chemotherapy alone, the addition of serplulimab resulted in an increase of 0.63 QALYs with an incremental cost of $5,372.73, leading to an ICER of $8,528.14 per QALY. This ICER was significantly lower than 3 times China's per capita GDP. The one-way sensitivity analysis suggested that the utility of PFS was the most sensitive factor on ICERs, followed by the price of serplulimab.

Conclusion: The combination of serplulimab and chemotherapy has been shown to be a cost-effective initial treatment option for patients with metastatic squamous NSCLC with the commonly accepted willingness-to-pay threshold of 3 times the GDP per capita per QALY in China.

Keywords: chemotherapy; cost-effectiveness; partitioned survival model; serplulimab; squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / administration & dosage
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / economics
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / therapeutic use
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols* / economics
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols* / therapeutic use
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* / drug therapy
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* / economics
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* / mortality
  • China
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Lung Neoplasms* / economics
  • Lung Neoplasms* / mortality
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Quality-Adjusted Life Years*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Med-X Center for Informatics funding project (YGJC009).