Many countries with national healthcare systems or payers such as insurance companies use cost-effectiveness analyses to decide whether to cover new medicines, balancing treatment costs with potential health benefits. That strategy often limits access to new, targeted therapies, even when these drugs prove highly effective and become part of standard-of-care therapy for many patients. A new study from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine examined the cost-effectiveness of durvalumab, a targeted immunotherapy for lung cancer that is known to extend lifespan.
The findings show that the drug exceeded official cost-effectiveness thresholds for all four analyzed countries: the United States, Brazil, Singapore and Spain. The study could help guide drug-pricing strategies to reduce financial burdens and increase the number of patients who benefit from treatment. "Cost-effectiveness analyses can help establish a value-based price for discussions with payers," including insurance companies and national health care systems, said senior author Gilberto Lopes, M.
D., chief of Medical Oncology and medical director for International Affairs at Sylvester. Cost-effectiveness analyses can also inform biopharma companies about barriers to access, resulting in pricing-structure changes for targeted drugs in different countries, he added.
That's a key aim of the Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition, a global initiative chaired by Lope.
