Conversion to Biosimilar Neutropenia Prophylaxis Generates Cost-Savings and Provides Access to Pancreatic Cancer Treatment

Conversion to biosimilar pegfilgrastim-cbqv for chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and febrile neutropenia prophylaxis can generate potential cost-savings and provide budget-neutral expanded access to FOLFIRINOX treatment for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer (Future Oncol. 2021;17[33]:4561-4570. doi:10.2217/fon-2021-0718).

“Pegfilgrastim is used to prevent low white blood cell count in patients receiving chemotherapy. Comparable to a generic version of a drug, a biosimilar is a follow-on version of a biologic treatment,” explained Karen MacDonald, Matrix45, Tucson, AZ, and colleagues.

This study aimed to estimate the potential cost-savings from conversion to biosimilar pegfilgrastim-cbqv that can be reallocated to provide budget-neutral expanded access to FOLFIRINOX treatment in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The authors calculated the savings from using biosimilar pegfilgrastim in a hypothetical group of 2500 patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and then computed the number of additional doses of FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy that could be purchased with those savings.

Using biosimilar pegfilgrastim for 12 cycles could save $6907.41 per patient. If all 2500 patients were treated with biosimilar pegfilgrastim, the cost-savings would total $17.3 million. This cost-savings could provide 72,273 additional doses of FOLFIRINOX treatment.

“This simulation in metastatic pancreatic cancer confirms earlier economic evaluations in other malignancies and demonstrates the extent to which conversion to biosimilar [neutropenia] prophylaxis can expand access to anticancer treatment on a budget-neutral basis, and thus contribute to cost-responsible cancer care,” MacDonald and colleagues concluded.