Trends in Clinical Benefits and Costs of Novel Therapeutics in AML: at What Price Does Progress Come?

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Since 2017, eight novel agents have been approved for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in the USA. Here, we review the clinical benefits and costs associated with these drugs. RECENT FINDINGS: For some of the newly-approved drugs, clinical benefit has been documented in randomized trials. Others received accelerated approval based on surrogate endpoints in early phase trials. All, however, carry significant costs and toxicities. Cost-effectiveness analyses are so far only available for midostaurin, CPX-351, and gemtuzumab ozogamicin. Recently approved drugs for AML have varying levels of evidence for clinical effectiveness and because of associated high costs may further increase the overall economic burden of AML care. This issue is complex and whether novel AML drugs will cost-effective will depend on multiple factors, including their ability to improve survival and quality of life while simultaneously reducing the costs of healthcare resource utilization.