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Overall Survival and Cost Trends in Multiple Myeloma

Leukemia; ePub 2017 Jan 20; Fonseca, et al

Publish date:: February 1, 2017

A shift in approach to treating people with multiple myeloma over the past 10 years has led to significant survival improvement, according to a recent analysis.

Investigators looked at the Truven Health MarketScan Research Databases for treatment trends. Among the results:

6 in every 10 patients with multiple myeloma used novel treatments in 2014, vs ~1 in every 10 in 2000.
Patients diagnosed in 2012 were 25% more likely to survive 2 years than those diagnosed 6 years earlier.
Survival improved over the study period, such that the survival gap between patients with multiple myeloma and matched controls decreased 3% per year.
While the total cost of care of multiple myeloma patients has increased, the relative contribution of drug costs has remained relatively stable since 2009.

Citation:

Fonseca R, Abouzaid S, Bonafede M, et al. Trends in overall survival and costs of multiple myeloma, 2000–2014. [Published online ahead of print January 20, 2017]. Leukemia. doi:10.1038/leu.2016.380.

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