The economic burden of disease progression is considerable among multiple myeloma (MM) patients receiving drug therapy across all lines of therapy (LOTs), according to a study published online in Leukemia & Lymphoma.

May Hagiwara, Ph.D., from Policy Analysis Inc. in Brookline, Massachusetts, and colleagues used data from a large U.S. claims database to examine the effects of disease progression on health care resource utilization (HRU) and costs among patients with MM with one or more LOTs and without receipt of a stem cell transplant. Data were compared for annual HRU and costs in the first four LOTs for patients with and without progression.

The researchers found that patients with versus without progression had greater mean annual hospitalizations and health care costs in all LOTs. Among patients with versus without progression, the total incremental annual costs in 1LOT to 4LOTs were $25,920, $30,632, $47,320, and $19,769, respectively.

"For MM patients receiving drug therapy, the economic burden of disease progression is substantial across all LOTs and this burden is generally greater in the era of novel treatments for relapse and refractory MM," the authors write. "Treatments that delay progression may yield important reductions in downstream disease management costs."

One author disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, which funded the study.

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