Cost minimization analysis of treatment with intravenous or subcutaneous trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer in Spain

PURPOSE: To describe healthcare professional (HCP) and patient time and related costs associated with trastuzumab intravenous infusion (IV) and trastuzumab subcutaneous (SC) formulations in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer. METHODS: This prospective, observational time, and motion study in three Spanish centers was run as a substudy of the PrefHer trial. We recorded active HCP time for trastuzumab SC and IV-related tasks and calculated HCP time as the mean sum of task times over 154 administrations (80 IV, 74 SC). We calculated mean patient infusion chair time and treatment room time. Staff costs were calculated using fully loaded salary costs based on Spanish salaries (€ 2012). RESULTS: The transition from trastuzumab IV to SC led to a 50% reduction in active HCP time [27.2 min (95% CI 21.8–32.6) vs. 13.2 min (95% CI 8.9–17.5) per cycle]. Time savings resulted from avoiding IV catheter installation and removal, line flushing, and drug reconstitution. SC administration led to a fivefold reduction (78–85%) in chair time and a fourfold reduction (59–81%) in patient treatment room time, resulting in 24 h free-up time in the total treatment course (18 cycles). Total estimated direct costs were € 29,431.75 and € 28,452.12 for IV and SC, respectively, a saving of € 979.60 over a full treatment course. CONCLUSIONS: Trastuzumab SC provided substantial time savings for HCP and patients, and reduced staff costs vs. trastuzumab IV. Reducing the use of hospital facilities may result in further savings and improved quality of medical care. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12094-017-1684-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.