Supplementary Material for: Sensitivity Analysis of Cost Factors for Various Therapy Options in the Treatment of Follicular Lymphoma

Background: In Germany, patients with relapsed follicular
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma do not all receive the same
treatment. In this study, 3 therapy regimens were analyzed
which were considered to be similar. With the goal
of determining the treatment option with the lowest direct
costs whilst maintaining the same degree of effectiveness,
a cost analysis model was established and applied
by way of example to the existing illness constellation.
Methods: The German doctors’ fee scale (Einheitlicher
Bewertungsmaßstab, EBM) valid until 2005
served as the basis for the calculation of medical services
within the scope of the present statutory health insurance
guidelines. A virtual standard patient was constructed for
the cost model and treated with the different therapy regimens.
The incidences of individual adverse events described
in literature served as the basis for the characterization
of the average toxicity of the respective treatment
methods. Result: The overall costs result from the sum of
the treatment costs and the toxicity-related costs. The effect
of additional interventions on the overall cost was
also examined. Conclusion: Whereas the accompanying
documentation of costs in clinical studies is organizationally
complex and very tedious, the model applied here offers
a reliable method of quantifying the costs of the different
therapy regimens. It permits the comparison of different
treatment alternatives, and it enables, by means of
a cost variance analysis, the identification of cost drivers
and less expensive measures within a therapy method.