As part of its Single Technology Appraisal process, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence The probabilistic incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was estimated to be £20,104 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained for pertuzumab alongside trastuzumab and docetaxel compared with trastuzumab and docetaxel, which was revised to £21,869 per QALY gained following the clarification process. The ERG corrected an error in the digitisation of the survivor functions and modified the clinically inappropriate assumption that recurrence is zero after 7 years. The ERG's probabilistic base case was £23,962 per QALY gained. During the appraisal, to mitigate the uncertainties associated with the evidence, the company offered a patient access scheme (PAS), which led to the NICE Appraisal Committee recommending pertuzumab in this patient group, subject to the company providing the agreed discount in the PAS.
Key points for decision makers Neoadjuvant pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab and chemotherapy provides a statistically significant advantage in terms of pathological complete response rates compared with trastuzumab and chemotherapy for treating HER2-positive breast cancer which is either locally advanced, inflammatory, or early stage (at a high-risk of recurrence). The safety of pertuzumab has been demonstrated. Given the patient access scheme proposed by the company, neoadjuvant pertuzumab is considered to be a cost-effective use of NHS resources.