Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research ( IF 1.8 ) Pub Date : 2020-07-27 , DOI: 10.1080/14737167.2020.1794826 Nour Hisham Al-Ziftawi 1 , Asrul Akmal Shafie 2, 3 , Mohamed Izham Mohamed Ibrahim 1
ABSTRACT
Background
Pharmacoeconomic evaluation is important for breast-cancer medications due to their high costs. To our knowledge, no systematic literature reviews of pharmacoeconomic studies for breast-cancer medication use are present in developing-countries.
Objectives
To systematically review the existing cost-effectiveness evaluations of breast-cancer medication in developing-countries.
Methodology
A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, and EconLit. Two researchers determined the final articles, extracted data, and evaluated their quality using the Quality of Health-Economic Studies (QHES) tool. The interclass-correlation-coefficient (ICC) was calculated to assess interrater-reliability. Data were summarized descriptively.
Results
Fourteen pharmacoeconomic studies published from 2009 to 2019 were included. Thirteen used patient-life-years as their effectiveness unit, of which 10 used quality-adjusted life-years. Most of the evaluations focused on trastuzumab as a single agent or on regimens containing trastuzumab (n = 10). The conclusion of cost-effectiveness analysis varied among the studies. All the studies were of high quality (QHES score >75). Interrater reliability between the two reviewers was high (ICC = 0.76).
Conclusion
In many studies included in the review, the use of breast-cancer drugs in developing countries was not cost-effective. Yet, more pharmacoeconomic evaluations for the use of recently approved agents in different disease stages are needed in developing countries.