Redispensing unused oral cancer drugs reduces costs, waste
Key takeaways:
- Redispensing unused oral anticancer drugs led to a marked reduction in waste.
- Study findings provide evidence to support incorporation of redispensation into clinical guidelines.
The redispensing of unused oral anticancer drugs led to a significant reduction in waste, as well as cost savings, study findings published in JAMA Oncology showed.
The potential cost savings could lead to improvements in affordability and sustainability of cancer treatments, according to researchers.
“This multicenter intervention study demonstrated substantial waste reduction associated with redispensing of quality approved [oral anticancer drugs] unused by patients, which generated substantial cost savings compared with the standard practice of disposal,” Elisabeth M. Smale, PharmD, of the department of pharmacy at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and researchers wrote. “In addition, these cost savings could be increased through minimization of quality assurance and/or by focusing on subgroups of the patient population.”
Background and methodology
New strategies targeting waste are being developed to improve the financial and ecologic sustainability of certain therapies underused by patients with cancer.
Researchers designed the prospective ROAD study to determine waste reduction and net cost savings attained by redispensing oral anticancer drugs that go unused by patients compared with the standard practice of disposal.
The analysis used data from outpatient pharmacies at four hospitals in the Netherlands from Feb. 1, 2021, to Feb. 1, 2023, with a 12-month follow-up for each patient.
The study included 1,071 patients (median age, 70 years; 58.1% male) with cancer who had a prescription for an oral anticancer drug that could be stored at room temperature.
Researchers performed data analysis from Aug. 25, 2022, to April 19, 2023, with a main outcome of total waste reduction and mean net annual cost savings per patient compared with standard practice of disposal. Additionally, researchers explored optimization of cost savings via the introduction of variations in the quality assurance procedure and patient population.
Results, next steps
Among the accepted study participants, 171 patients (16%; 95% CI, 13.8-18.3) returned 335 unused oral anticancer drug packages. Among returned packages, 228 were redispensed, reducing waste by 68.1% (95% CI, 67.7-68.5).
Researchers noted that redispensed unused oral anticancer drugs comprised 2.4% (95% CI, 2.2-2.5) of total drug costs, translating into mean net annual cost savings of $680 (95% CI, $524-$837) to $1,591 (95% CI, $1,226-$2,002) per participant.
The researchers noted several study limitations, including that dramatically more expensive drug prices in the United States than the Netherlands may mean potential cost savings are exaggerated for American models.
Additionally, the investigators said it cannot be assumed that patients returned all unused oral anticancer drugs during the study period.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to bring the idea of redispensing unused drugs into clinical practice by introducing an extensive quality assurance process,” researchers wrote. “The findings of this study show an economic advantage to redispensing drugs in the context of a large study population treated in different medical centers. These findings will serve as evidence to supporting legislation and incorporation of redispensation into clinical guidelines.”
Collapse
Read more about