University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, Kingston, RI, USA.
Massachusetts General Hospital North Shore Cancer Center, Danvers, MA, USA.
J Pharm Pract. 2022 Aug;35(4):580-586. doi: 10.1177/08971900211000208. Epub 2021 Mar 15.
Oral oncolytics are becoming a mainstay in oncology, representing first-line therapies for numerous different malignancies. In addition, the cost of oncology drugs has increased dramatically in recent years. Given the increasing number of oral oncolytics available, as well as the increase in medication costs in recent years, it is important to assess the trend in prescriptions and expenditures of these agents.
A descriptive retrospective analysis of the Medicare Part D Provider Utilization and Payment Data Public Use File (PUF) was conducted for the years 2013 through 2017. Outcomes of interest included total aggregate prescriptions per year, total aggregate expenditures per year, mean expenditure per prescription per year, and mean expenditure per standardized 30-day prescription per year. Chi-square tests were conducted to assess statistical significance of differences in proportions of prescriptions as well as expenditures between 2013 and 2017.
The number of prescriptions for oral oncolytics dispensed to Medicare Part D beneficiaries increased from 7,017,902 in 2013 to 8,164,883 in 2017. Medicare Part D expenditures for oral oncolytics increased greater than 2.5-fold from $5,631,224,307 in 2013 to $14,422,681,331 in 2017 after adjusting for inflation. The mean expenditure per prescription for oral oncolytics increased from $802 in 2013 to $1,766 in 2017.
This study found oral oncolytic utilization has been increasing in recent years with a slight, but statistically significant increase in the proportion of oncolytics for all Medicare prescriptions from 2013 through 2017.
口腔肿瘤药物在肿瘤学中已成为主要治疗方法，代表了许多不同恶性肿瘤的一线治疗方法。此外，近年来肿瘤药物的成本大幅增加。鉴于可用的口腔肿瘤药物数量不断增加，以及近年来药物成本的增加，评估这些药物的处方和支出趋势非常重要。
对 2013 年至 2017 年医疗保险 D 部分提供者使用和支付数据公共使用文件（PUF）进行了描述性回顾性分析。感兴趣的结果包括每年的总处方总数、每年的总支出、每年每处方的平均支出和每年每标准化 30 天处方的平均支出。进行了卡方检验，以评估 2013 年至 2017 年之间处方和支出比例的差异是否具有统计学意义。
向医疗保险 D 部分受益人分发的口腔肿瘤药物处方数量从 2013 年的 7,017,902 份增加到 2017 年的 8,164,883 份。经通胀调整后，医疗保险 D 部分用于口腔肿瘤药物的支出从 2013 年的 5631224307 美元增加到 2017 年的 14422681331 美元，增加了两倍多。口腔肿瘤药物的每处方平均支出从 2013 年的 802 美元增加到 2017 年的 1766 美元。
本研究发现，近年来口腔肿瘤药物的使用量一直在增加，2013 年至 2017 年期间，所有医疗保险处方中肿瘤药物的比例略有但具有统计学意义的增加。
