Effect of immuno-oncology on clinical and economic outcomes for a selection of cancers in Italy

This study assesses the impact of immune-oncology (IO) drugs’ availability on cancer incidence-adjusted mortality rates from melanoma, lung, and renal cancers at population level in Italy between 2008 and 2019. We conducted a retrospective study on cross-sectional time-series aggregated data collected from publicly available sources and IQVIA proprietary databases. Three fixed-effects regression models were used to estimate how IO availability affects incidence-adjusted mortality for each cancer type. Estimated deaths were compared with deaths in a scenario with no IO drugs availability. Finally, the number of averted deaths was valued using the human capital approach. A 1% increase in IO availability reduces incidence-adjusted mortality rates for melanoma, lung, and renal cancers by 0.125% (95% CI: 0.138–0.112; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01), 0.011% (95% CI: 0.013–0.009; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01) and 0.005% (95% CI: 0.006–0.003; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01) between the introduction of the drug in the therapeutic area and 2019. This reduction resulted in total savings of € 49.0 million, € 61.3 million, and € 10.9 million in indirect costs due to premature mortality, respectively. IO drugs introduction in Italy between 2008 and 2019 was associated with a significant decrease in deaths from each cancer and, consequently, in savings in indirect costs related to premature mortality.