Cost-Utility Analysis of Nivolumab plus Chemotherapy in the First-Line Treatment of Upper Gastrointestinal Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the cost-utility of nivolumab plus chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone as the first-line treatment for advanced gastric, gastro-oesophageal junction, and esophageal adenocarcinoma in China. Methods: Based on CheckMate649, a partitioned survival model was carried out with a circulation cycle of 6 weeks to simulate the patient’s lifetime. Sensitivity analysis were adopted to verify the robustness of the results. Results: The results of the base-case analysis showed that both the total cost and utility of the nivolumab group were higher, and the ICUR value was CNY 267498.67/QALY, more than 3 times the GDP per capita of China in 2020. The results of deterministic sensitivity analysis indicated that the three most influential factors were the utility value of PFS state, the cost of nivolumab and the discount rate. The results of probabilistic sensitivity analysis were consistent with those of base-case analysis, proving that the results were robust. The scenario analysis illustrated that economical price of nivolumab was CNY 3652.71. Conclusions: Under the willing-to-pay threshold of three times the GDP per capita of China in 2020, compared with chemotherapy alone, nivolumab plus chemotherapy is not a cost-effective option in China.