Economic burden of multiple myeloma among patients in successive lines of therapy in the United States

Abstract

This study characterized the costs of multiple myeloma (MM) during first-line (1L), second-line (2L) and third-line (3L) treatment from the US payer perspective. Patients with ≥2 outpatient or ≥1 inpatient claims with a primary MM diagnosis and 12 months continuous enrollment post index were identified in a retrospective claims database between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2013. A cost per-patient per-month (PPPM) metric was used to calculate total all-cause and anti-MM pharmacy costs in 1L, 2L, and 3L treatment. Of 5704 patients included, 3626 initiated 1L treatment, 1797 initiated 2L and 817 initiated 3L. Average total all-cause PPPM costs were $22,527 in 1L, $35,266 in 2L and $47,417 in 3L. Anti-MM pharmacy costs represented 22%, 29% and 29% of total all-cause costs PPPM in 1L, 2L and 3L, respectively. Study results suggest that delaying 2L and/or 3L treatment initiation may result in lower treatment costs for patients with MM.

Keywords:

• Multiple myeloma
• treatment cost
• economic burden

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Andrew Delgado, PharmD, of Precision Health Economics, for editorial support.

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provide by the authors are available with the full text of this article online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2017.1361035.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb.