Cost Effectiveness of Cytotoxic and Targeted Therapy for Metastatic Breast CancerA Critical and Systematic Review

Breast cancer is the leading cancer type diagnosed among women in Western countries. Despite great advances in cancer therapies, many of these patients develop non-curable metastases. The objective of cancer treatment in the metastatic setting is mainly to control symptoms and to prolong survival. The selection of the optimal chemotherapeutic regimen is affected by performance status, tumour biology, site and extent of the disease and the exposure to prior therapies. Recent developments in new kinds of cancer drugs have contributed not only to immense progress in clinical outcomes but also to dramatically increased treatment-related health costs. Costeffectiveness analysis is a type of economic evaluation that compares costs and health outcomes of alternative intervention strategies in a systematic way.