Treatment of follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with or without rituximab: cost-effectiveness and value of information based on a 5-year follow-up

BACKGROUND Rituximab induction together with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) and rituximab maintenance (RCHOP-R) resulted to significant progression-free survival (PFS) benefit in comparison to RCHOP in the EORTC20981 trial of relapsed/refractory follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (FL). However, the overall survival (OS) difference between RCHOP-R and RCHOP was insignificant. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of RCHOP, RCHOP-R, and CHOP in the treatment of relapsed/refractory FL. DESIGN A lifetime Markov modeling based on the 5-year EORTC20981 survivals (Weibull regressions) was carried out from the public health care payer perspective. Finnish costs (drug, routine, adverse event, and relapse management) were employed. The main outcomes were incremental cost (€2008) per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), progression-free year (PFY), and life-years gained (LYG). Analyses included cost-effectiveness acceptability frontier and multinomial expected value of perfect information (mEVPI). RESULTS RCHOP-R resulted to OS (PFS) benefit compared with RCHOP and CHOP: 6 (10) and 17 (25) months, respectively. The incremental costs per QALY gained/LYG/PFY gained were €18 147/€16 380/€10 416 for RCHOP-R versus RCHOP (mEVPI €5196); €14 360/€13 041/€8976 for RCHOP-R versus CHOP (mEVPI €1986); and €12 123/€11 049/€8004 for RCHOP versus CHOP (mEVPI €1,240). RCHOP-R was the optimal option when the willingness to pay per QALY gained exceeded €18 399. CONCLUSION RCHOP-R is a potentially cost-effective treatment option for the FL.