Posted by Michael Wonder on 24 Mar 2018
ICER final report on CAR-T therapies highlights need for systemwide changes to ensure affordability and access to innovative, one-time therapies
23 March 2018 - Policy recommendations highlight that even though the pricing of current CAR-T therapies aligns with patient benefit there will be changes needed in future pricing, payment, and delivery mechanisms to ensure patient access without threatening health system affordability.
The ICER today released a final evidence report and report-at-a-glance on tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah, Novartis) and axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta, Kite Pharma/Gilead), two CAR-T therapies for treatment of B-cell cancers.
ICER’s report was reviewed at a public meeting of the California Technology Assessment Forum, where a majority of the panel voted that evidence is sufficient to show that tisagenlecleucel provides a net health benefit for children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and that both tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel provide a net health benefit for adults with certain B-cell subtypes of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The two therapies were compared to commonly used chemotherapy regimens for each indication. Evidence was not sufficient to distinguish between the two CAR-T therapies for treatment of NHL.
