Economic Feasibility of Interferon Combination to Treat Advanced or Metastatic Renal Carcinoma

Abstract

Introduction: Renal cell carcinoma is a neoplasm in increasing incidence and mortality worldwide. The combination of alpha and gamma interferons produced by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology is a therapeutic option under development for this disease. The increasing costs of health care lead to the search for treatments with proven efficacy and safety that are feasible from an economic perspective.

Objective: To demonstrate the economic feasibility of the combination of interferons versus a control group and versus therapies used worldwide for renal cancer.

Methods: A cost-effectiveness economic analysis was carried out using clinical data generated prospectively during a clinical investigation to determine efficacy and safety of a combination of interferons, designed in Cuba, for the treatment of advanced or metastatic kidney tumors. The comparing indicators used were the therapeutic alternatives considered in the literature as effective for this disease and the historical control group. A search was performed in the databases Medline (PubMed), Google academic, Web of Science and others, articles published between 2018 and 2021 were prioritized. The review for said indicators was executed with the descriptors: renal cancer, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and in Spanish, English, French, German and Portuguese.

Results: The health intervention for advanced or metastatic renal cancer with the best mean cost-effectiveness and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio and, therefore, the most efficient and feasible resulted in the combination of interferons, followed by interferon alpha and everolimus therapy.

Conclusions: The research conducted in the economic benefit study yields feasibility for the use of the interferon combination, when compared to globally established therapies to treat these patients, the product under study generated the lowest cost per month of life saved.