Comparative analysis of the use of maintenance therapy drugs in women in the process of radiotherapy after surgical treatment of endometrial cancer

Aim. To carry out a comparative analysis of the cost of a "unit of effect" of emoxipin, ethoxidol and mexidol used to improve the quality of life of women receiving radiation therapy after surgical treatment of endometrial cancer.

Materials and methods. The pharmacoeconomic analysis was carried out in accordance with the Guidelines for Calculating Costs in Conducting Clinical and Economic Studies of Medicinal Products and included determining the position of the study and the list of costs, the time period for cost accounting and cost calculation. The results of the use of the studied drugs were evaluated according to the previously published dynamics of integrative indicators of QL according to the generic questionnaire SF-36 and the cancer-specific questionnaire for patients with endometrial cancer FACT-En. In the course of the analysis, a comparison was made of the direct costs (Cost, in rubles) for the purchase of each of the studied drugs with the consequences (Ef) of their course use. The result of the pharmacoeconomical analysis was expressed in the form of a cost-effectiveness coefficient (CER = Cost / Ef) per patient.

Results. As a result of the clinical and economic analysis, it was found that in most cases mexidol is characterized by the lowest cost-effectiveness ratio. This concerns the calculation of CER according to the dynamics of the integral indicator (TS) of the questionnaire for the functional assessment of endometrial cancer therapy (FACT-En) and the psychological component of health (MH) according to SF-36. The exception was the result of the calculation of "cost-effectiveness" according to the criterion of increasing PH – the physical component of health according to SF-36. In this situation, mexidol was inferior to ethoxidol in terms of pharmacoeconomic efficiency. In all cases, without exception, the most expensive was the use of emoxipin.

Conclusion. According to the pharmacoeconomic criterion "costs - effectiveness", the most expensive is the use of emoxipin, and the least expensive is the use of mexidol. In all cases, the "cost per unit effect" of emoxipin was 3-6 times higher than the corresponding indicators of mexidol and ethoxidol.