"Generic vs Brand Bone Drug For Breast Cancer, Skeletal Mets" - Kristin Jenkins
At a time when rising healthcare costs in the United States are coming under intense scrutiny, one of the first independent analyses to compare a proprietary drug with its generic counterpart shows that zoledronic acid given every 3 months is more cost-effective than monthly denosumab in women with breast cancer and skeletal metastases, said researchers. Analysis of data from the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB)/Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology shows that compared with the cost of zoledronic acid every 3 months, the mean cost of administering monthly denosumab to prevent skeletal-related events (SREs) was nine times higher over a 2-year period, according to Charles Shapiro, MD, director of cancer survivorship and translational breast cancer research at the Tisch Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "As we move toward a value-based health care model, every 3-month zoledronic acid may be a viable alternative to monthly denosumab when costs are considered," he added. “We’ve got to start doing more trials like this.”
- Charles Shapiro, MD, Director, Cancer Survivorship, Translational Breast Cancer Research, The Tisch Cancer Institute, Professor, Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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