TY  -  JOUR
AU  -  Fadda, Valeria
AU  -  Maratea, Dario
T1  -  Direct and indirect costs of luteinising hormone-releasing
hormone analogues in the treatment of locally advanced
or metastatic prostate cancer in Italy
PY  -  2015
Y1  -  2015-12-01
DO  -  10.1701/2094.22656
JO  -  Recenti Progressi in Medicina
JA  -  Recenti Prog Med
VL  -  106
IS  -  12
SP  -  634
EP  -  640
PB  -  Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore
SN  -  2038-1840
Y2  -  2026/04/16
UR  -  http://dx.doi.org/10.1701/2094.22656
N2  -  Summary. Background. When analyzing the use of luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) analogues for different clinical indications, current available evidence does not support a presumed drug class effect among the various LHRH in the treatment of prostate cancer. Methods. The following search key words were entered in the PubMed database and the NICE and FDA websites: “LHRH agonist AND prostatic cancer”, “androgen deprivation therapy”, “androgen suppression”, “buserelin”, “leuprorelin”, “goserelin”, “triptorelin”, “degarelix”. The direct costs included the following items: follow-up visits, diagnostic exams (e.g. prostate-specific antigen PSA) and drug costs. The indirect costs included working days lost by the patient. Results. With intermittent therapy as a reference, leuprorelin injectable solution of 22,25 mg was associated with the lowest cost and degarelix with the highest cost. However, given the mandatory presence of a nurse for drug injection, the buserelin depot formulation was associated with the lowest cost. If the costs for hospital visits were added to drug costs, differences between the various therapeutic strategies were less remarkable. Conclusions. Our study showed how various factors (e.g. route of administration, frequency of administration, presence of a nurse for drug reconstitution and injection) should be taken into account by decision makers in addition to the price of drugs.
ER  -