Analysis Group Researchers Coauthor Study to Quantify Economic Burden of Cancer Patients Who Relapse or Are Refractory to a Common Targeted Therapy
November 4, 2024
Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia / small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) are often prescribed a therapy – ibrutinib – that can stop the growth and proliferation of cancer cells as part of their treatment. However, many patients treated with ibrutinib do not respond to that therapy (i.e., they are refractory) or eventually relapse. For those patients, the health care resource utilization (HRU) and costs associated with their condition could be exacerbated due to a lack of other available treatments. As a result, it is crucial to evaluate the economic burden of patients with CLL/SLL who relapse or are refractory to ibrutinib.
With an eye toward understanding the economic burden of those patients, an Analysis Group team led by Principal François Laliberté, Manager Enrico Zanardo, and Data Specialist Dominique Lejeune collaborated with researchers from Merck and MSD UK on a study examining HRU and costs for patients with CLL/SLL who are refractory to ibrutinib or whose disease recurs following treatment. The researchers analyzed a large insurance claim dataset to compare the use and costs of hospital, emergency room, and doctor’s office visits for patients with relapsed or refractory CLL/SLL versus patients who did not relapse and were not refractory. In an article on their findings, the authors report that medical costs were almost three times larger among patients who relapsed or were refractory to ibrutinib and that they had twice as many inpatient stays. They conclude that “more effective therapies are needed as alternatives to ibrutinib to alleviate the economic burden associated with [relapsed or refractory] CLL/SLL” and that the introduction and uptake of novel treatments could help reduce that burden.
The article, “Healthcare resource utilization and costs of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma patients who relapse or are refractory to ibrutinib,” was published in Future Oncology.