Cost–effectiveness analysis of nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus chemotherapy as first-line treatment in advanced NSCLC

Aim: To evaluate the cost–effectiveness of nivolumab plus ipilimumab (NI) in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer from a US-payer perspective. Materials & methods: We developed a Markov model to evaluate the cost and effectiveness of NI versus chemotherapy as first-line treatment of NSCLC. Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and incremental cost–effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were estimated. Results: NI provided an additional 0.715 QALYs compared with chemotherapy in all population. The corresponding ICER of NI was $180,307 per QALY gained. However, the ICER decreased to $143,434 per QALY in the programmed death ligand 1 expression level <1% population. Conclusion: From a US-payer perspective, NI is estimated to be cost-effective in the first-line setting for advanced NSCLC patients with programmed death ligand 1 expression level <1%.