María Espinosa Bosch, Rocío Asensi Diez, Sara García Agudo, Ana Clopes Estela
Abstract
Nintedanib is a triple angiokinase inhibitor that has been approved by the European Agency Medicines (EMA) in combination with docetaxel for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced, metastatic or locally recurrent non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of adenocarcinoma tumour histology, after first-line chemotherapy. In LUME-Lung 1 clinical trial, the combination of nintedanib plus docetaxel vs. placebo plus docetaxel improved progression free survival (PFS) in NSCLC patients, and improved overall survival in the population of adenocarcinoma patients, particularly in those with progression within 9 months after first line treatment initiation, median 10.9 months ( [95% CI 8.5-12.6] vs. 7.9 months [6.7-9.1]; HR 0.75 [95% CI 0.60-0.92], p=0.0073). The toxicity profile of the combination included a higher incidence of neutropenia, gastro-intestinal (GI) disorders, and liver enzyme elevations; however, this did not cause a detrimental effect on patient quality of life. According to data from the clinical trial mentioned, the addition of nintedanib to docetaxel would lead to an estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) per year of life with PFS in the overall population of 134,274.47 € (notified price). In the adenocarcinoma population per each life of year gained (LYG), the ICER of adding nintedanib to docetaxel would be 40,886.14 €; while by implementing a sensitivity analysis with a 25% discount in the drug price, the cost per LYG would be 32,364.05 €, and would place it close to the threshold of cost-effectiveness usually considered acceptable in our setting. In view of efficacy and safety results the proposed positioning is to recommend its inclusion in the Hospital Formulary only for adult patients with metastatic or locally recurrent NSCLC with adenocarcinoma histology after first line chemotherapy, with progression < 9 months from the initiation of first line treatment, taking into account the inclusion and exclusion criteria in the pivotal clinical trial.
