Patterns of practice and pharmacoeconomic analysis of the management of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) in Greece––the CRISIS study. A retrospective analysis by the Hellenic Genitourinary Cancer Group (HGUCG)

Background:Metastatic RCC (mRCC) treatment has been revolutionized with 11 approved targeted agents. We report patterns of practice, outcomes and pharmacoeconomic analyses after the introduction of targeted therapy.
Patients and methods: CRISIS was a retrospective multicenter study of mRCCpatients who received targeted therapy . Results were related to the start of 1st-line therapy, with a cut off at 1 January 2011 in order to depict the impact of increased availability of effective options.
Results: 164 patients, were included. 70.1% and 44.5% received 2nd and 3rd-line therapy, respectively. More patients were treated in 2nd-line after 1 January 2011. After a median follow-up of 55.1 months, median progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 10.7 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 8.3–13.7), 7.3 (95% CI: 5.1–8.6), 5.8 (95% CI: 3.8–7.8) and 34 (95% CI: 28.5–39.8), 22.4 (95% CI: 16–32.1), 18.3 (95% CI: 12.4–26.4) months for first, second and third line, respectively. Efficacy of sunitinib and pazopanib in 1st-line were similar. The mean total cost/patient was 35,012.2 Euros (standard deviation [SD]: 28,971.5).
Conclusions: Our study confirms previous real-world data suggesting that continuing advances in the treatment of mRCC produce favorable outcomes in everyday practice. Pharmacoeconomic analyses are important for cost-effective utilization of emerging novel therapies.