Healthcare Resource Utilization and Associated Costs in Patients with Advanced Melanoma Receiving First-Line Ipilimumab

Background: To describe healthcare costs, excluding ipilimumab drug costs, in patients with advanced melanoma receiving ipilimumab in the US community practice setting. Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of unresectable stage III/IV melanoma patients who received first-line ipilimumab monotherapy between 04/2011 and 09/2012. Healthcare resource utilization included inpatient, emergency, specialist and hospice visits, laboratory tests, radiation, surgeries, and nursing home stays. Publicly available US unit costs were applied to each resource type to estimate costs, which were analyzed by time periods: during ipilimumab treatment, post-ipilimumab treatment (post-regimen), and within 90 days prior to death (pre-death). Generalized linear mixed models were used to explore cost predictors during the treatment period, on a per-dose-interval basis, defined as the time between ipilimumab doses. Results: Data were abstracted from 273 patient charts at 34 sites. Excluding ipilimumab drug costs, total monthly costs during the treatment regimen, post-regimen, and pre-death periods were $690, $2151, and $5123, respectively. Total healthcare costs were 27 times higher during dose intervals with a grade 3/4 adverse event compared with intervals without a grade 3/4 adverse event. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≥ 2 (vs 0) was also associated with significantly higher cost per dose interval. Conclusions: In this population, monthly costs exclusive of drug were significantly lower during the treatment period than in subsequent periods. Unfavorable ECOG PS was associated with significant increases in cost per dose interval. Grade 3/4 adverse events were associated with a marked increase in healthcare costs, but occurred in a small proportion of dose intervals.

Patient and Physician Preferences for Treating Adjuvant Melanoma: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Objective: To evaluate and compare patient and physician preferences for the benefits and risks of currently available adjuvant melanoma treatments. Methods: Patients with stage II/III melanoma and oncologists in the USA were recruited from 6 clinical sites and an online panel to complete a survey. Preferences were assessed using a paired comparison discrete choice experiment that allowed for opt-out (i.e. no treatment). The treatments comprised 7 attributes, each with 3 levels associated with pegylated interferon, high-dose interferon, and ipilimumab. Attributes included efficacy outcomes, dosing regimen, and risks of moderate to severe toxicities. In addition, open-ended maximum acceptable risk (MAR) questions assessed tradeoffs between toxicity risk and efficacy. Results: 142 patients (45 stage II;97 stage III) chose a treatment in 78% of the choice tasks, while physicians (N = 127) chose treatment 79% of the time. The rankings of relative attribute importance were concordant between the patients and physicians for the top 4: 10-year survival in metastatic melanoma, fatigue risk, 3-year recurrence-free survival (RFS), and depression risk. Patients and physicians valued the difference in 21% survival versus no survival benefit about 3 and 4 times as much, respectively, as reducing diarrhea risk from 41% to 1% or reducing depression risk from 40% to 1%. The MAR of severe diarrhea and of a life-threatening event increased as the chance of 3-year RFS increased, with patients reporting higher risks than physicians. Conclusion: Patients and physicians were concordant in their preferences in adjuvant melanoma, preferring treatment versus none and judging potential efficacy to outweigh risks of toxicities.