OBJECTIVES: LifeChamps is an EU Horizon 2020 project that aims to create a digital platform to enable monitoring of health-related quality of life and frailty in cancer survivors over the age of 65. The objective of this analysis is to assess the potential value of this technology before clinical testing and to identify information gaps and uncertainties, optimizing further research and development.

METHODS: An early cost-effectiveness model was developed to estimate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), healthcare & non-healthcare costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of LifeChamps Digital Platform (LDP) plus standard of care (SoC) compared with SoC alone, for female breast cancer survivors over the age of 65. We assigned available project population baseline characteristics to a hypothetical cohort of 1000 patients, and we run the analysis from the perspective of Greek National Health System. We used a one-year time horizon. QALYs have been estimated using EQ-5D-5L, FACT-G7 and EORTC QLU-C10D instruments. Efficacy and healthcare resource use were extracted from interviews with participating patients, physicians, and researchers. Available literature and public sources of data were also used. We accounted for uncertainty with deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses.

RESULTS: The base-case analysis revealed that patients using the LDP could gain 0.22 more QALYs with an additional cost of 1,110 € per patient. The ICER was estimated at 4,990 €/QALY, far below the accepted ICER thresholds. Sensitivity analyses generated outcomes between 2,549-16,659 €/QALY, indicating that LDP is potentially a cost-effective solution for older cancer survivors, under the assumptions made. However, the results are sensitive to efficacy variation and organizational/setting aspects.

CONCLUSIONS: This early health technology assessment of LDP suggests promising clinical and economic outcomes for older breast cancer survivors and supports further research, development and testing in the clinical setting. When clinical trial results will be available, cost-effectiveness analysis will be updated.