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Giuliani et al. Cancer Drug Resist 2021;4:740-4 Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/cdr.2021.14
Drug Resistance

Commentary Open Access

Cost-effectiveness of Osimertinib in activating
epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR)-

mutations in first-line for advanced non-small cell
lung cancer

Jacopo Giuliani, Andrea Bonetti

Department of Oncology, Mater Salutis Hospital - Az. ULSS 9 Scaligera, Legnago (VR) 1-37045, Italy.
Correspondence to: Dr. Jacopo Giuliani, Department of Oncology, Mater Salutis Hospital - Az. ULSS 9 Scaligera, Via Gianella,
Legnago (VR) 1-37045, Italy. E-mail: giuliani.jacopo@alice.it

How to cite this article: Giuliani J, Bonetti A. Cost-effectiveness of Osimertinib in activating epidermal growth factor receptor
gene (EGFR)-mutations in first-line for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer Drug Resist 2021;4:740-4.
https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/cdr.2021.14

Received: 14 Feb 2021 First Decision: 30 Mar 2021 Revised: 7 Apr 2021 Accepted: 12 Apr 2021 Available online: 27 Apr 2021
Academic Editors: Godefridus J. Peters, Iwao Ojima Copy Editor: Xi-Jun Chen Production Editor: Xi-Jun Chen
Keywords: NSCLC, activating EGFR-mutations, first-line treatment, TKIs, cost of drugs

The introduction of first- or second-generation epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR) tyrosine
kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in chemonaive patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has
radically changed the treatment in this molecular subgroup, with an improvement in progression-free
[1]
survival (PFS) compared to standard chemotherapy . The introduction of these active new agents is
associated with a relevant increase of costs, and the most fitting example is represented by the recent
introduction of osimertinib in this setting. In fact, the topic of costs has become preponderant in oncology
and radiotherapy, as well as in relation to the introduction of target biological agents and immunotherapy,
[2]
with their greatest budgetary impact . Recently, Aguilar-Serra et al. performed a cost-effectiveness
[3]
analysis of osimertinib vs. standard first-line TKIs (erlotinib and gefitinib) in advanced NSCLC. They
concluded that osimertinib was more effective in terms of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained than
comparators (erlotinib-gefitinib), but a discount greater than 60% in osimertinib acquisition cost would be
required to obtain a cost-effective alternative.

© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
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