Target therapy versus dacarbazine in first-line treatment of advanced non-surgical and metastatic melanoma: Budget impact analysis from the perspective of the Brazilian National Health System, 2018-2020

Abstract

Objective: to estimate the incremental budget impact of target therapy for first-line treatment of advanced non-surgical and metastatic melanoma compared to dacarbazine treatment. Methods: budget impact analysis, from the Brazilian National Health System (SUS) perspective; based on demographic data and incidence estimates, the population over a three-year time horizon (2018-2020) was delimited and the direct medical costs were estimated; the reference scenario was treatment with dacarbazine, and the alternative scenarios were target therapy with vemurafenib, dabrafenib, vemurafenib + cobimetinib and dabrafenib + trametinib; uncertainty assessment was conducted through scenario analysis. Results: the incremental budget impact ranged from R$ 451,867,881.00 to R$ 768,860,968.00, representing 0.70 to 1.53% of total SUS annual outpatient drugs expenditure; in best and worst scenario, results ranged from R$ 289,160,835.00 to R$ 1,107,081,926.00. Conclusion: the use of target therapy compared to dacarbazine implies an excessive impact on the budget, this bring unfovorable to its possible incorporation.