Frontiers in pharmacology
Economic evaluation of six immune checkpoint inhibitor-based first-line therapies for advanced squamous non-small-cell lung cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis based on network meta-analysis
By Qiu Z, Wang G, Lou Y and 1 others.
Abstract
Background
Advanced squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (sq-NSCLC) imposes a substantial clinical and economic burden. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (sugemalimab, tislelizumab, penpulimab, serplulimab, camrelizumab, and pembrolizumab) combined with chemotherapy improve survival, but their comparative cost-effectiveness remains uncertain.
Methods
A three-state partitioned survival model with 3-week cycles and a lifetime horizon was developed from the Chinese healthcare-system perspective. Clinical efficacy was derived from six phase 3 trials and synthesized using network meta-analysis. Costs, life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for each ICI-based regimen versus chemotherapy were estimated. The willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold was set at $27,906/QALY. Deterministic, probabilistic, scenario, and full incremental analyses were performed.