Economic evaluation in a randomized phase III clinical trial comparing gemcitabine/cisplatin and etoposide/cisplatin in non-small cell lung cancer

This is a critical abstract of an economic evaluation that meets the criteria for inclusion on NHS EED. Each abstract contains a brief summary of the methods, the results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the study and the conclusions drawn. The authors suggest that the higher chemotherapy cost of gemcitabine/cisplatin when compared to cisplatin/etoposide does not imply an increased direct cost, as potential savings associated with a decrease in hospitalisation costs arise from the use of gemcitabine. Differences exist in favour of GC when response rate and time to disease progression are used as clinical end-points, but this was not extended to survival.