Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Camrelizumab Immunotherapy versus Docetaxel or Irinotecan Chemotherapy as Second-Line Therapy for Advanced or Metastatic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
Purpose
The aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of camrelizumab immunotherapy versus docetaxel or irinotecan chemotherapy as second-line therapy for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which was evaluated in the ESCORT trial.


Materials and Methods
A partitioned survival model was developed to reflect the costs and effectiveness of the ESCORT trial. The clinical efficacy data, safety data, and health-related costs and utilities were derived from published data from clinical trials or health administration departments in China. Adverse event-related costs, drug administration, and other expenses were derived from a single center of Fujian Medical University Cancer Hospital in 2021. All survival analyses were performed with SPSS software. Overall survival was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and progression-free survival was estimated with the life table method. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the uncertainty of the model. Incremental cost, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were calculated.


Results
Camrelizumab therapy had 0.232 QALYs at an incremental cost of USD$9959.44 compared with the chemotherapy group with 0.158 QALYs at an incremental cost of USD$8601.67. The ICER was USD$18393.12/QALY. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed that when the willingness-to-pay threshold reached USD$31200/QALY, which is nearly three times the Chinese gross domestic product per capita, camrelizumab had an 80% possibility of being cost-effective versus docetaxel or irinotecan chemotherapy.


Conclusion
Camrelizumab is a cost-effective option compared with docetaxel or irinotecan chemotherapy in patients with advanced ESCC as second-line therapy in China.
['Lin|Ying-Tao|YT|0000-0001-9168-0491', 'Chen|Ying|Y|', 'Liu|Tian-Xiu|TX|0000-0002-1575-5743', 'Kuang|Fang|F|', 'Huang|Ping|P|']
cost-effectiveness camrelizumab chemotherapy esophageal squamous cell carcinoma