Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33855690›Full record

ArticleAdvances in therapy2021

Cost-Effectiveness of Pembrolizumab Regimens for the First-Line Treatment of Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Argentina.

Victoria Wurcel, Diana Chirovsky, Rebekah Borse, Juan Ignacio Altuna, Fernando Carabajal, Jyotika Gandhi

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Advances in therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Victoria WurcelMSD Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina. victoria.wurcel@merck.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1330-8963
Diana ChirovskyMerck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.
Rebekah BorseMerck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.
Juan Ignacio AltunaMSD Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fernando CarabajalMSD Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Jyotika GandhiCHEORS, North Wales, PA, USA.
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA (United States) · USMercadoLibre (Argentina) · AR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe phase III KEYNOTE-048 trial showed that the programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab, in the combined positive score (CPS) ≥ 1 population and combined with platinum + 5-fluorouracil in the total population, improves survival over cetuximab + platinum + 5-fluorouracil in recurrent or metastatic (R/M) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab as monotherapy in the CPS ≥ 1 population or combined with platinum + 5-fluorouracil in the total population versus cetuximab + platinum + 5-fluorouracil from the social security perspective in Argentina.

methodsA partitioned survival model projected costs and outcomes over 20 years with 3% annual discounting. Health state occupancy was modeled using KEYNOTE-048 Kaplan-Meier curves until the final analysis data cutoff, followed by parametric extrapolations guided by statistical criteria. Costs for initial and subsequent treatments, disease and adverse events management, and terminal care were included (AR $74.00 = 1 USD). Time-on-treatment and EuroQol five-dimension scores were taken from KEYNOTE-048. Utilities were derived using an Argentina-specific algorithm.

resultsWith pembrolizumab monotherapy, patients accrued 1.1040 additional life-years and 0.8768 additional quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), for incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) of AR $135,801/life-year and AR $170,985/QALY gained over cetuximab + platinum + 5-fluorouracil. Additional life-years and QALYs gained with pembrolizumab combination therapy versus cetuximab + platinum + 5-fluorouracil were 1.3296 and 1.0536, respectively (ICERs of AR $680,143/life-year and AR $858,306/QALY). Considering a threshold of AR $1,676,122/QALY gained, pembrolizumab monotherapy and combination therapy had an 88.0% and a 77.1% probability of being cost-effective, respectively.

conclusionPembrolizumab either as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy offers substantial survival gains for patients with R/M HNSCC at small additional costs, making it a cost-effective treatment versus cetuximab + platinum + 5-FU in Argentina.

Indexed as

Head and Neck NeoplasmsNeoplasm Recurrence, LocalAntibodies, Monoclonal, HumanizedAntineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy ProtocolsArgentinaCost-Benefit AnalysisHumansSquamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and NeckAntibodies, Monoclonal, HumanizedpembrolizumabArgentinaCetuximabCost-effectivenessHead and neck squamous cell carcinomaLatin AmericaPembrolizumab

Identifiers

PMID33855690
PMCPMC8107151
OpenAlexW3154757118

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.