Economic Evaluations of Cabazitaxel for Treatment of Post-docetaxel Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer: Evidence from a Systematic Review

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Prostate cancer is an ever-increasing global incidence and has become the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality in men. A significant number of patients with prostate cancer develop metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). There are a few second-line treatment options for patients with post-docetaxel mCRPC. This systematic review aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of cabazitaxel for the treatment of mCRPC. Materials and Methods: Electronic bibliographic databases including: PubMed/Medline, NICE, CRD, and Scopus were searched in January 2018 for identifying full economic evaluations published in English and Persian. The risk of assessment bias and descriptive analyses of individual studies’ findings were presented. Results: Three articles that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in the current study. All the included records had a reasonable quality. Cabazitaxel was not recommended as the most cost-effective option for the treatment of docetaxel-refractory mCRPC. Abiraterone acetate and radium-223 were the recommended cost-effective treatments for mCRPC treatment. Conclusion: We found that, in general, while cabazitaxel had equal or slightly higher improvement in Quality-adjusted Life Year (QALY) as compared to the alternatives, it incurred a high cost. Despite the inclusion of a few studies in this review, cabazitaxel was not found to be a cost-effective option. Therefore, we recommend full economic evaluations to be conducted in this area.