OBJECTIVES

: To conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) of health economic evidence (cost-effectiveness models, cost/resource use, utility inputs) to inform an economic model of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitors for first-line (1L) treatment of ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS

Two searches were conducted in May 2018 for cost-effectiveness and cost and resource use components, and for the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) evidence. Systematic searches of bibliographic databases and conference websites were conducted alongside hand-searching health technology assessment websites (HTA). Abstract and full-text screening for inclusion was conducted by two independent reviewers. Study quality was assessed using a range of appraisal checklists: Methods for the Development of NICE Public Health Guidance and Philips et al. (2004) for cost-effectiveness and cost and resource use publications; Picot et al. (2015) for HRQoL publications.

RESULTS

: A total of 1,708 records were identified from the bibliographic and conference searches (n=1,696), HTA website searches (n=11) and hand-searching (n=1). After full-text screening (n=315), 42 publications were included for data extraction across all three SLR components, of which some were relevant to more than one component. Eight publications provided evidence directly relating to first-line ALK+ NSCLC economic evidence, 29 contained relevant cost/resource use data, and 21 contained HRQoL utility data. Nine of the 18 economic articles detailed three-state partitioned-survival models whilst one presented a four-state model separating progression by the presence of central nervous system metastases.

CONCLUSIONS

: The SLR identified limited articles from the bibliographic and conference searches in the 1L population but web searches identified recent economic evaluations in the form of cost-utility analyses submitted to HTA bodies such as NICE. The SLR confirmed that a three-state partitioned-survival model is the most widely used but a four-state model had recently been submitted for HTA. Updates to the SLR are currently ongoing (searches: June 2019).