Budget impact analysis of darbepoetin alfa every 3 weeks versus epoetin alfa every week for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced anaemia from a US payer's perspective.

Objective: This analysis was conducted to compare the direct medical costs of treatment with darbepoetin alfa every 3 weeks (Q3W) and epoetin alfa every week (QW) in patients with chemotherapy-induced anaemia (CIA) from the payer's perspective.

Methods: An analysis was conducted from a US health plan perspective to compare the annual budget impact for CIA with darbepoetin alfa Q3W and epoetin alfa QW over a 16-week treatment period. Dosing regimens were obtained from registration clinical trials.

Results: Mean doses, including dose adjustments, were 375.6 microg Q3W for darbepoetin alfa and 43,187 U QW for epoetin alfa. Costs of medical resources included drug acquisition and administration costs. The base case analysis resulted in a per-patient budget impact of $8,544 and $8,667 for darbepoetin alfa and epoetin alfa, respectively. Per member per month cost was $0.90 for darbepoetin alfa and $0.91 for epoetin alfa, based on an estimate of 2,735 CIA patients in a health plan population of 2.17 million. The analysis was most sensitive to drug dose, treatment period and drug price.

Conclusions: Results suggest that per-patient direct medical costs of CIA treatment, when initiated at labelled starting doses, are comparable for darbepoetin alfa Q3W and epoetin alfa QW.