Objective:

To estimate the economic impact of the introduction of olaparib in the Spanish National Health System as maintenance monotherapy in patients with BRCA-mutation positive high-grade serous ovarian cancer.

Method:

A budget impact model was developed from the Spanish NHS perspective and a time horizon of 5 years for four treatment lines. The model included prevalent and incident patients estimated according to Spanish epidemiological data. Patients moved between treatment lines according to the progression-free survival and overall survival curves obtained from the respective clinical trials. Only direct costs (€ 2017) were considered: pharmacological, administration, adverse effects and genetic tests. The robustness of the model was verified by a univariate sensitivity analysis.

Results:

The use of olaparib meant that, after 5 years, 6% fewer patients progressed to later lines compared to scenario without olaparib, remaining longer in the second line and delaying the initiation of subsequent lines. The total estimated budgetary impact ranged between € 1.6 and € 5.4 million (1-5 years). The economic impact associated to the introduction of olaparib is partially offset by the lower cost of chemotherapy, related adverse events, and palliative care in patients with olaparib than in patients without it.

Conclusions:

Olaparib as maintenance treatment in patients with BRCA-mutation positive high-grade serous ovarian cancer increases progression-free survival and delays the use of subsequent chemotherapy, with an budgetary impact for the Spanish National Health System of 5.4 million euros after 5 years.