ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Colorectal Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1590319
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Oncology Drug Development, Approval and Access Through Multi-Stakeholder CollaborationView all articles
Adoptive Cellular Immunotherapy Combined with Chemotherapy versus Chemotherapy Alone in Chinese Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Inform Drug Pricing
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
- 2Hebei Cancer Clinical Medical Research Center, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
- 3Hebei Provincial Institute of Drug Control, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
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Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of adoptive cellular immunotherapy (ACI) combined with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone in Chinese patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and provide evidence-based support for drug pricing strategies. Methods: A Markov model was constructed using data from the NCT03950154 phase III clinical trial, which randomized 202 patients into two groups: ACI combined with oxaliplatin/capecitabine/bevacizumab (n=100) and chemotherapy alone (n=102). Clinical outcomes, including progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and adverse events, were analyzed. Costs, quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were calculated from the perspective of the Chinese healthcare system. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was employed to assess model stability, accompanied by scenario analysis, with price simulations conducted under three willingness-to-pay (WTP) thresholds (1.5× , 1.94× , and 3× China's per capita gross domestic product [GDP]).The ACI group demonstrated superior clinical outcomes compared to chemotherapy alone, with a median PFS of 14.8 vs. 9.9 months (hazard ratio[HR]=0.60, p=0.009) and a median OS not reached vs. 25.6 months (HR=0.57, p=0.043). Over a 20-year simulation, the ACI group provided an additional 1.
Keywords: Adoptive cellular immunotherapy, Metastatic colorectal cancer, cost-effectiveness analysis, Markov model, Drug pricing, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio
Received: 09 Mar 2025; Accepted: 14 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huo, Liang, Xu and Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rui Feng, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
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