Real-world treatment trends for patients with advanced prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma and their cost - A survey in Japan

Takahiro Osawa*, Keita Sasaki, Ryunosuke MacHida, Takashi Matsumoto, Yoshiyuki Matsui, Hiroshi Kitamura, Hiroyuki Nishiyama

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Advanced (Stage IV) prostate and renal cancer have poor prognosis, and several therapies have been developed, but many are very costly. This study investigated drug regimens used in patients with untreated Stage IV prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma and calculated the monthly cost of each. Methods: We surveyed first-line drugs administered to patients with untreated Stage IV prostate cancer and renal cancer at Japan Clinical Oncology Group affiliated centers from April 2022 to March 2023. Drug costs were calculated according to drug prices in September 2023. Individual drug costs were calculated or converted to 28-day costs. Results: A total of 700 patients with untreated Stage IV prostate cancer were surveyed. Androgen deprivation therapy + androgen receptor signaling inhibitor was the most common regimen (56%). The cost of androgen deprivation therapy + androgen receptor signaling inhibitor was 10.6-30.8-fold compared with conventional treatments. A total of 137 patients with Stage IV renal cancer were surveyed. Among them, 91% of patients received immune-oncology drug-based regimen. All patients received treatments with a monthly cost of ≥500 000 Japanese yen, and 80.4% of patients received treatments with a monthly cost of ≥1 million Japanese yen, of combination treatments. The cost of immune-oncology drug-based regimen was 1.2-3.1-fold that of TKI alone. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a survey of first-line drug therapy in untreated Stage IV prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma stratified by age and treatment costs. Our results show that most Japanese patients received state-of-the-art, effective treatments with high financial burden.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1062-1070
Number of pages9
JournalJapanese Journal of Clinical Oncology
Volume54
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024/10/01

Keywords

  • immune-combination therapy
  • prostate cancer
  • renal cell carcinoma
  • treatment cost

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Cancer Research

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