OBJECTIVES: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is with 35 benefit assessment procedures the most crowded indication in the German AMNOG system. These procedures are associated with 14 drugs that were granted a market authorization since the introduction of the National health technology assessment procedure. The objective of the current study is to investigate correlations between factors influencing the benefit assessment and as a result the reimbursed price.

METHODS: Data, such as the benefit category, retrieved from publicly available G-BA procedures since January 2011 until June 2020 were analyzed, based on the MAIS database. The annual therapy costs (ATC) along with the total rebates were calculated in correlation to the specific benefit assessments and the official price list.

RESULTS: Out of the 35 early benefit procedures that were initiated, four were awaiting negotiations and one drug was removed from the market. The total net rebates varied between 13.88% and 71.71% and did not correlate with the benefit category. Additionally, no clear correlation between the benefit category and the change of the delta between the respective comparator’s therapy costs and the drug under consideration before and after the negotiation could be identified. Nevertheless, a trend that the lower the benefit category the larger the change in the delta could be observed.

Furthermore, an analysis of the therapy costs until disease progression and the benefit category demonstrated no clear correlation. Even if treatment success would be measured based on progression free survival (PFS), no correlation between ATC and PFS could be observed.

CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the outcome of the benefit assessment does not affect the negotiated rebate. Furthermore, a lower benefit category leads to a higher influence of the costs of the comparator during price negotiations. Moreover and independent of the benefit category, PFS drives the ATC of the newly introduced NSCLC-drugs.