Pharmaco-economic analysis of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II and III colorectal cancer

Comparison of the costs of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CapeOX) with that of FOLFOX6 (5-fluorouracil/leucovorin [LV] + oxaliplatin) as an adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II or III colorectal cancer has previously been reported. However, there are no reports comparing uracil and tegafur (UFT)/LV with capecitabine. Therefore, the current study compared the costs of adjuvant chemotherapy regimens including CapeOX, FOLFOX6, capecitabine and UFT/LV. The costs of chemotherapeutic drugs and for the prevention and treatment of adverse events were evaluated, as these account for the bulk of the treatment costs. Costs were expressed in Japanese Yen (US dollars). The mean costs of the chemotherapeutic drugs per patient, for an entire course of treatment, were ¥882,632 ($8,406) for UFT/LV, ¥353,290 ($3,365) for capecitabine, ¥1,436,218 ($13,678) for FOLFOX6 and ¥1,255,630 ($11,958) for CapeOX. The mean costs associated with adverse events per patient were ¥2,210 ($21) for UFT/LV, ¥6,749 ($64) for capecitabine, ¥173,432 ($1,652) for FOLFOX6 and ¥107,430 ($1,023) for CapeOX. Therefore, the capecitabine regimen contributes to reducing costs for the management of patients with colorectal cancer who have had surgery.