Data are limited on the real-world utilization and costs of brentuximab vedotin (BV) among patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (rrHL) in the United States. A total of 219 BV patients identified from the Truven MarketScan® databases were followed up for a median of 2.9 years before and 1.0 year after initiation of BV. Of these patients, 109 (50.6%) received systemic therapy after BV (post-BV ST). Median duration of treatment was short for BV (2.1 months) and post-BV ST treatment (1.3 months); time to next treatment was 6.2 and 9.1 months, respectively. Average total US dollar 2014 costs/person for BV and post-BV ST line of therapy were $167,152 and $132,115, respectively; mean per-patient-per-month costs for BV and post-BV ST were $30,434 and $29,138, respectively. Findings underscore the unmet medical need and substantial economic burden in BV-treated patients with rrHL.
Keywords: Brentuximab vedotin; cost analysis; health care resource utilization; relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma; treatment patterns.