Utilization and costs of supportive medications among patients with metastatic breast (mBC) or colorectal cancer (mCRC)

6099 Background: Supportive medications for patients receiving chemotherapy can increase complexity of care and healthcare costs. Our objective was to examine the utilization and costs of supportive medications for patients treated with oral capecitabine versus comparison intravenous (IV) chemotherapy for mBC or mCRC. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of medical and pharmacy claims of over six million members from three managed care organizations between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2002. Patient cohorts, capecitabine versus IV chemotherapy, were identified through (1) ICD-9 codes for mBC or mCRC and (2) the use of chemotherapy. Results on patients with mBC were separated into those using capecitabine as first-line or second-line therapy. For second-line mBC therapy, capecitabine was compared with two regimens: (1) prior anthracycline and prior taxane; (2) prior anthracycline or prior taxane. For mCRC, capecitabine was compared to 5-FU or irinotecan. Supportive medications were identified thr...