Data from: Cost effectiveness analysis of hormone therapy for breast cancer in Japan

Breast cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in the world. It accounts
for 22.2 % of all cancers and is the most common site of cancer in women
in Japan. Although hormone therapy with aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen
has been widely used, it is unclear which agent is more cost-effective.
This study examined the cost-effectiveness of anastrozole as an aromatase
inhibitor from a healthcare payer's perspective compared to tamoxifen
in Japan. A Markov model, for comparison, of anastrozole with tamoxifen as
a reference agent, was developed using data from a randomized clinical
trial conducted in Japan. The costs were derived from the Japanese Health
Care Fee Index for 2022. Based on the results of a questionnaire on the
general health-related quality of life associated with cancer (FACT-G),
utilities were converted to EuroQol-5 Dimension-5 Level. The time horizon
was set to 10 years. In addition, deterministic and probabilistic
sensitivity analyses were conducted. Anastrozole was dominated by
tamoxifen. One-way sensitivity analysis showed the expected value (EV) of
incremental net monetary benefit for anastrozole was the most sensitive to
the pharmaceutical "drug price of anastrozole in FY2022," where
the generic drug price was applied. The EV remained negative across the
other parameters. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis revealed that
anastrozole dominance over tamoxifen was 47.2 %. Anastrozole was less
cost-effective than tamoxifen in Japan. Our findings support clinical
practice and suggest payers and policymakers promote cost-effective
therapies.