OBJECTIVES

: Pharmaceutical Value (pValue), a center of excellence funded by PhRMA Foundation in novel value assessment, partnered with the Cancer Support Community to gain patient insights into the importance of value assessment criteria. Prior to developing quantitative multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) tools for value assessment interpretation, we conducted preliminary evidence synthesis and generation exercises to identify and understand the importance of value criteria. The objective of this study was to engage cancer patients to elicit the criteria that are most important toward their judgements related to the value of therapies.

METHODS

A 90 minute in-person focus group was held with adult patients who had previously received a cancer diagnosis. The focus group was moderated by a trained facilitator and followed a structured interview guide. The focus group was recorded and transcribed. A subsequent electronic survey was emailed to each participant to ask them to rank order value elements that are not well captured in traditional value assessment like survival, quality of life, and productivity.

RESULTS

: Seven adult patients participated in the focus group. Patients reported that survival, quality of life, and the ability to provide for their family factored the most into their treatment decision making. Subsequent surveys were received from 6 of the participants (86%). The patients ranked the following non-traditional criteria as the most important for decision makers to consider when assessing the value of a treatment: real option value, value of hope, first treatment option, severity of disease, and reduce complexity.

CONCLUSIONS

Criteria captured in traditional value assessment were important to patients; however, non-traditional criteria may also need to be considered to comprehensively capture the value of a treatment. MCDA is a method to incorporate these non-traditional criteria into value assessment, as well as provide an opportunity to engage patients in value assessment.