On the flip side, the weekly schedule was associated with significantly higher rates of grade 3/4 hematologic toxicity (17% vs. 6%), leukopenia (6% vs. 1%), and neutropenia (11% vs. 2%). It’s important to remember, however, that "these patients had their counts checked more frequently, they did not receive hematopoietic growth factors, and the rates of infectious complications were not different between the two arms," he said.
The investigators have not performed a formal pharmacoeconomic analysis, according to Dr. Budd, but "the weekly schedule is somewhere between a third and two-thirds less expensive, just on the basis of calculating drug costs."
Dr. Budd disclosed that he is a consultant to Amgen, maker of pegfilgrastim (Neulasta).