Cost-effectiveness of sintilimab plus bevacizumab biosimilar versus sorafenib for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Aims Sintilimab plus bevacizumab biosimilar(IBI305) as a first-line therapy for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma has been shown to improve overall and progression-free survival compared with standard sorafenib treatment. The aim of current economic evaluation is to investigate the cost-effectiveness of sintilimab in combination with IBI305 as a first-line therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods A partitioned survival model consisting of 3 discrete health states to was constructed to evaluate the economic outcome of sintilimab plus bevacizumab biosimilar. Costs, life-years, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of sintilimab plus bevacizumab biosimilar vs sorafenib was examined. One-way deterministic sensitivity, probabilistic sensitivity and subgroup analyses were used to examine model uncertainty. Results The base-case results found that sintilimab plus IBI305 treatment for unresectable HCC could bring an extra 0.49 QALYs and 1.269 overall life-years, with an incremental cost of $16487. The ICER for sintilimab plus IBI305 vs sorafenib was $28022.58/QALY. The probability of being cost-effective for sintilimab in combination with IBI305 increased from 28–62% as the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold value increased from $26000/ QALY to $29000/QALY. Conclusion The findings of this study suggested that that sintilimab plus IBI305 is a cost-effective strategy from the Chinese perspectives.