Health technology assessments and value frameworks are becoming increasingly important for clinical decision-making. Most of these frameworks, however, focus on value to payers rather than patients and healthcare providers and may ignore other sources of economic value such as patient and physician time cost, impact on productivity, and direct health system costs. This article focusses on fixed-dose combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab for subcutaneous injection (PH FDC SC) in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. We review relevant clinical evidence, examine data on time and resource use of the subcutaneous administration of trastuzumab compared with intravenous treatment and how it can be extrapolated to PH FDC SC, and discuss the value PH FDC SC can bring to patients and healthcare providers. We will also provide our own experiences of PH FDC SC from the healthcare (oncologist, healthcare economist, pharmacist) and patient point of view. The data, combined with our personal experiences, suggest that switching from intravenous pertuzumab and trastuzumab to PH FDC SC could reduce non-drug costs for healthcare providers treating patients with HER2-positive breast cancer through time savings and other economic benefits. Furthermore, PH FDC SC could also save patient time given its shorter administration and post-injection observation time versus intravenous infusions, potentially resulting in reduced productivity loss. These benefits could be applied to other subcutaneous formulations, either currently available or in development.
Keywords: Costs; Fixed-dose combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab for subcutaneous injection; HER2-positive breast cancer; Pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and hyaluronidase-zzxf.
New therapies are increasingly assessed by looking at their value to those who pay for them rather than their value to patients and healthcare providers. Value assessments conducted from the payers’ perspective often ignore such things as patient and healthcare system time and costs. The fixed-dose combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab for subcutaneous injection (also known as pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and hyaluronidase-zzxf, abbreviated to PH FDC SC), is injected under the skin to treat a subtype of breast cancer called HER2-positive breast cancer. PH FDC SC is as effective as pertuzumab and trastuzumab, which are infused separately into a vein, but takes a lot less time to administer to patients. This transition is similar to what was seen when a subcutaneous version of trastuzumab was developed and compared to the intravenous original. Also, subcutaneous trastuzumab reduced costs associated with treating patients compared with intravenous infusions. The same benefits of PH FDC SC to patients and healthcare providers can be expected, and our personal experiences as an oncologist, healthcare economist, patient, and pharmacist agree. PH FDC SC could save patient and healthcare provider time given its shorter injection and observation times versus intravenous infusions, potentially resulting in better productivity for these people and a smaller cost to healthcare providers. These benefits could be applied to other subcutaneous formulations, either currently available or in development.
© 2022. The Author(s).