Treatment Patterns Among Patients With Mantle Cell Lymphoma and Comparison of Healthcare Resource Utilization and Costs Among Relapsed/Refractory Patients Treated With Ibrutinib or Chemoimmunotherapy: A Real-world Retrospective Study
Clinical Therapeutics, 2021
Purpose
This study assessed treatment patterns in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and compared health care resource utilization (HRU) and costs of ibrutinib with or without rituximab (I ± R) versus chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) in patients with relapsed/refractory MCL.
Methods
For this retrospective cohort study, adults with MCL observed between May 13, 2013, and June 30, 2019, were identified using Optum's de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart Database. Treatment patterns were described among patients who received ≥1 line of therapy (LOT). HRU and costs (payer's perspective) were compared between patients treated with I ± R and CIT in the second or later line (2L+) of therapy. To account for differences in baseline characteristics between the 2 cohorts, inverse probability of treatment weighting was used. Monthly HRU and costs starting from I ± R or CIT treatment initiation (index date) were compared during the first Oncology Care Model (OCM) episode (ie, first 6 months) postindex and during the observed duration of I ± R or CIT LOT (index LOT) using rate ratios (RRs) and mean monthly cost differences (MMCDs), respectively.
Findings
Among 1346 patients with ≥1 LOT (median follow-up, 15.3 months), 870 (64.6%) were treated with CIT in the first line. Only 348 (25.9%) had a 2L of therapy, of whom 110 (31.6%) were treated with CIT and 98 (28.2%) with an ibrutinib-based therapy. A total of 300 patients were included for the comparison of HRU and costs between 2L+ I ± R and 2L+ CIT. The weighted cohorts (after inverse probability of treatment weighting) included 149 patients treated with I ± R (mean age, 71.6 years; 73.7% men) and 151 treated with CIT (mean age, 71.5 years; 76.2% men). During the first OCM episode and during the index LOT, the I ± R cohort had significantly fewer monthly days with outpatient services compared to the CIT cohort (OCM, RR = 0.63 [P < 0.001]; index LOT, RR = 0.73 [P = 0.004]). Compared to the CIT cohort, the I ± R cohort incurred significantly higher monthly pharmacy costs (MMCDs: OCM, 9938 US dollars [USD] [P < 0.001]; index LOT, 8920 USD [P < 0.001]) that were fully offset by lower monthly medical costs (MMCDs: OCM, -19,373 USD [P < 0.001]; index LOT, -13,548 USD [P < 0.001]), resulting in monthly total health care cost savings (MMCDs, OCM, -9435 USD [P < 0.001]; index LOT , -4628 USD [P = 0.01]).
Implications
Over a median follow-up of 15.3 months, most patients with MCL were treated with CIT in the first line, and only one fourth had a 2L therapy. Patients with relapsed/refractory MCL treated with I ± R had significantly fewer days with outpatient services and lower monthly total health care costs versus those treated with CIT during the first OCM episode and the index LOT.
Authors
Ghosh N, Emond B, Lafeuille MH, Côté-Sergent A, Lefebvre P, Huang Q