Abstract

In the recent issue of Value in Health, Nguyen et al evaluated the cost-effectiveness of first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Using one-year time horizon, the study concluded that generic imatinib is cost-effective relative to other branded TKIs. The authors provide important clinical evidence on the use of TKI in CML, which are as follows: (1) there is no significant difference in overall survival across TKIs indicated for first-line use; (2) treatment with TKIs is generally chronic; and (3) the type of adverse events varies across individual TKIs. Nevertheless, such clinical evidence was not incorporated in their cost-effectiveness analysis and their results are unlikely robust.