TA895 · STA

Axicabtagene ciloleucel for treating relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after first-line chemoimmunotherapy

Recommended for Cancer Drugs FundApril 2023

Recommended for use within the Cancer Drugs Fund only. Limited to adults with DLBCL when an autologous stem cell transplant is suitable, if disease has relapsed within 12 months after first-line chemoimmunotherapy or is refractory to first-line chemoimmunotherapy. Conditions of managed access agreement must be followed.

Source documents

Intervention

axicabtagene ciloleucel (not stated)
genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapy · chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy · intravenous

Conditions

relapsed or refractory diffuse large b-cell lymphomahaematology · relapsed_refractory
diffuse large b-cell lymphoma (dlbcl)haematology · relapsed_refractory

Comparators

NameType Established Committee preferred
salvage chemotherapy (50% r-ice and 50% r-gdp) followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantstandard of careYes
standard carestandard of care

Clinical trials

TrialDesignPhasePivotal
ZUMA-7RCTIIIYes
ZUMA-1single_arm
JULIETsingle_arm
SCHOLAR-1observational
ORCHARRDRCT

Economic model

partitioned survival (company)
Time horizon: lifetime
Cycle length: Not specified in this chunk

ICER

£50,000–£100,000 (axicabtagene ciloleucel vs standard care) · very_high uncertainty
Confidential (PAS-dependent) (axicabtagene ciloleucel vs standard care) · very_high uncertainty

Methodological decisions (14)

cost assumption

CAR T-cell therapy delivery costs in NHS

Company: bottom-up costing approach yielding £41,101 for first 100 days; concerns that NHS tariff not appropriate for HTA

ERG: concerned company approach likely underestimated true delivery costs; also concerned about transparency of NHS tariff

Committee: £41,101 delivery cost was acceptable; committee satisfied it captured reasonable projection of NHS costs

ICER impact: decreases

cost assumption

Autologous stem cell transplant costs

Company: £37,736 based on NICE NHL guideline inflated to 2020-21

ERG: preferred HRG-based cost of £17,181 as more transparent

Committee: company's estimate of £37,736 more appropriate and consistent with NHS practice

ICER impact: increases

cost assumption

Inclusion of retreatment costs for axicabtagene ciloleucel

Company: excluded retreatment costs as not part of marketing authorisation and unlikely to occur in practice

ERG: preferred to include retreatment costs to align modelled costs and benefits

Committee: agreed with ERG that costs and benefits should be aligned; concluded retreatment costs should be included

ICER impact: increases

crossover adjustment

Method to adjust standard care overall survival for treatment switching to CAR T-cell therapy

Company: used RPSFT model with full re-censoring; explored alternative censoring types and IPCW method

ERG: agreed RPSFT with full re-censoring was most appropriate but cautioned about remaining uncertainty

Committee: RPSFT model with full re-censoring was acceptable

ICER impact: decreases

crossover adjustment

Crossover adjustment needed to account for the use of third-line CAR T-cell therapy in ZUMA-7

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

population generalisability

Generalisability of ZUMA-7 results to NHS practice due to absence of chemotherapy bridging

Company: Not explicitly stated

ERG: Not explicitly stated in this chunk

Committee: Acknowledged the issues of generalisability to NHS practice (bridging chemotherapy used in 75% of NHS patients but not in ZUMA-7), which increases uncertainty. Concluded that collecting Cancer Drugs Fund data could reduce uncertainty

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

population generalisability

Generalisability of ZUMA-7 results to NHS practice regarding chemotherapy bridging

Company: not explicitly stated but trial design did not include chemotherapy bridging

ERG: noted lack of chemotherapy bridging in trial

Committee: acknowledged generalisability concern but noted Cancer Drugs Fund data collection could help resolve this

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

population generalisability

ZUMA-7 did not use chemotherapy bridging, which raised concerns about generalisability to NHS practice

ICER impact: increases

proportional hazards

Concern about applying hazard ratio to mixture cure model; whether standard care should be disadvantaged after 5-year cure point

Company: applied proportional hazards assumption throughout extrapolation

Committee: concluded company's approach was acceptable but noted remaining uncertainty favourable to axicabtagene ciloleucel

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

survival extrapolation

Choice of parametric curve for extrapolating axicabtagene ciloleucel overall survival beyond trial follow-up

Company: Preferred generalised gamma distribution as it had good statistical fit and was validated by clinical experts

ERG: Preferred log-logistic curve as it had marginally better statistical fit and was more conservative given immature trial data

Committee: Concluded that both generalised gamma and log-logistic curves appeared plausible and agreed that the log-logistic model was appropriate given the uncertainty

ICER impact: decreases

survival extrapolation

Choice of parametric curve for axicabtagene ciloleucel overall survival extrapolation

Company: preferred generalised gamma distribution based on good statistical fit and clinical expert validation

ERG: preferred log-logistic curve due to marginally better statistical fit and more conservative extrapolation given immature trial data

Committee: log-logistic model agreed as appropriate given uncertainty about long-term survival

ICER impact: decreases

survival extrapolation

The distribution used to extrapolate overall survival for axicabtagene ciloleucel in ZUMA-7 was uncertain due to immature trial data

ICER impact: increases

treatment sequencing

Handling of subsequent third-line CAR T-cell therapy in standard care arm (56% of patients received this)

Company: Explored adjusting standard care overall survival to remove the benefit of subsequent CAR T-cell therapy using RPSFT model with full re-censoring

ERG: Not explicitly stated in this chunk

Committee: Agreed that adjustment was necessary because axicabtagene ciloleucel at 2+ lines had only been provisionally recommended and was not yet established practice

ICER impact: increases

utility source

Source of post-event utility values

Company: used ZUMA-1 (axicabtagene ciloleucel single-arm study) for pre-progression values

ERG: not explicitly stated but alternative would have been JULIET (tisagenlecleucel single-arm study)

Committee: accepted use of ZUMA-1 post-event utility values

ICER impact: negligible

Evidence gaps

immature overall survivalZUMA-7 trial is still ongoing with only approximately 2 years of follow-up data available, limiting confidence in long-term survival extrapolations
short follow upTrial data is immature; long-term survival for axicabtagene ciloleucel is uncertain beyond 2 years of follow-up
otherChemotherapy bridging not included in ZUMA-7 but commonly used in NHS practice (75% of patients), affecting generalisability of trial results to NHS settings
immature overall survivalOnly approximately 2 years of follow-up data from ZUMA-7; long-term survival for axicabtagene ciloleucel uncertain
immature overall survivalUncertainty about long-term survival benefit of standard care due to crossover adjustment using treatment-switching methods on immature data
no uk dataGeneralisability of ZUMA-7 results to NHS practice because chemotherapy bridging was not used in trial but would be used in NHS practice
surrogate not validatedModel assumes patients alive and event-free at 5 years are cured; long-term validation needed
immature overall survivalImmature trial data and the distribution used to extrapolate overall survival for people having treatment with axicabtagene ciloleucel in ZUMA-7
otherCrossover adjustment needed to adjust for the use of third-line CAR T-cell therapy in ZUMA-7

Commercial arrangement

simple discount pas · confidential

Special considerations

End of life criteria met Severity modifier applied Cancer Drugs Fund eligible Innovation acknowledged Equality issues raised

Cross-references

same drug — Previous NICE recommendation for axicabtagene ciloleucel for CAR T-cell therapy; after 2 or more systemic therapies was provisionally recommended for routine commissioning
same condition — NICE Guideline on non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: diagnosis and management used for autologous stem cell transplant costs
comparator guidance — NICE's guide to the methods of technology appraisal 2013 used for end-of-life criteria