When imatinib loses patent protection and its price declines, its use will be the cost-effective initial treatment strategy for chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP). This according to an analysis comparing the cost-effectiveness of treating CML-CP with either generic imatinib when it becomes available in the US vs physician’s choice of initiating treatment with another tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Researchers found:

• Both strategies met a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per quality adjusted life year (QALY).

• Imatinib-first ($277,401, 3.87 QALYs) offered patients a 0.10 decrement in QALYs at a savings of $88,343 over 5 years to payers vs physician’s choice ($365,744, 3.97 QALYs).

• The imatinib-first incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was approximately $883,730 per QALY.

• These results were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses.

Citation: Padula WV, Larson RA, Dusetzina SB, et al. Cost-effectiveness of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment strategies for chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase after generic entry of imatinib in the United States. [Published online ahead of print March 4, 2016]. J Natl Cancer Inst. doi:10.1093/jnci/djw003.