TA898 · STA

Dabrafenib plus trametinib for treating BRAF V600 mutation-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Recommended with restrictionsMay 2023

Only if used as first-line treatment of advanced stage cancer and the company provides it according to the commercial arrangement

Source documents

Intervention

dabrafenib plus trametinib (Tafinlar plus Mekinist)
BRAF and MEK inhibitors · oral

Conditions

braf v600 mutation-positive advanced non-small-cell lung canceroncology · metastatic
braf v600 mutation-positive advanced non-small-cell lung canceroncology · advanced

Comparators

NameType Established Committee preferred
pembrolizumab plus platinum chemotherapyactive drugYesYes
pembrolizumab plus platinum doublet chemotherapyactive drugYes

Clinical trials

TrialDesignPhasePivotal
BRF113928single_armphase 3Yes
KEYNOTE-189Yes

Economic model

partitioned survival (company)
Time horizon: not specified
Cycle length: not specified

ICER

£20,000–£30,000 (dabrafenib plus trametinib vs pembrolizumab plus platinum chemotherapy) · high uncertainty

Methodological decisions (12)

cost assumption

Inclusion of BRAF V600 mutation testing costs in cost-effectiveness analysis

Company: Did not include costs as this test is done in routine practice

ERG: Questioned whether BRAF V600 testing was truly routine practice

Committee: Agreed testing is routine practice and costs should not be included, consistent with NICE methodology

ICER impact: negligible

cost assumption

Inclusion of costs for BRAF V600 mutation testing

Company: Did not include genomic testing costs as already done in routine practice

ERG: Questioned whether BRAF V600 testing was truly routine practice

Committee: BRAF V600 mutation testing is routine practice; costs should not be included in line with NICE methodology

ICER impact: decreases

discount rate

Approach to discounting future costs in the model

Company: Modelled discounting discretely from beginning of second year

ERG: Chose to discount costs continuously

Committee: Not yet determined in pages provided

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

discount rate

Method of discounting future costs in the economic model

Company: Discrete discounting from beginning of second year, updating discount rate annually

ERG: Continuous discounting from outset, updating discount rate every cycle

Committee: Continuous discounting from outset of model

ICER impact: negligible

equivalence assumption

Clinical equivalence between dabrafenib plus trametinib and pembrolizumab plus platinum chemotherapy

Company: Presented analysis assuming clinical equivalence as conservative assumption in absence of trial evidence

ERG: Concluded assumption was not supported by evidence and would ignore effects of subsequent treatments

Committee: Not preferred for decision making due to lack of evidence support

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

indirect comparison method

Choice between MAIC and naive unanchored comparison for BRAF V600 comparator evidence

Company: Used MAIC approach with covariates based on BRF113928 and KEYNOTE-189

ERG: Presented two base cases: one informed by MAIC and one by naive unanchored comparison

Committee: MAIC was acceptable and preferred despite limitations, but committee preferred sensitivity MAIC with fewer covariates to maintain sample size

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

indirect comparison method

Use of MAIC to compare dabrafenib plus trametinib (from BRF113928) with pembrolizumab plus platinum chemotherapy (from KEYNOTE-189)

Company: Base-case MAIC adjusted for covariates found to be statistically significantly associated with PFS or OS, plus covariates used in previous NICE appraisals

ERG: Agreed base-case MAIC was acceptable despite limitations

Committee: Preferred the sensitivity MAIC with larger effective sample size and less uncertain effect estimates, avoiding covariates from previous appraisals

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

population generalisability

Generalisability of KEYNOTE-189 evidence to BRAF V600 population

Company: KEYNOTE-189 participants would have been eligible for BRF113928, making it suitable for comparator efficacy

ERG: Questioned whether KEYNOTE-189 results were generalisable since it did not collect BRAF mutation status and most participants would not have BRAF V600

Committee: Accepted KEYNOTE-189 as preferred evidence source for comparator efficacy despite lack of BRAF V600-specific data

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

treatment effect duration

Assumption regarding adhere to oral therapies and impact on efficacy

Company: Non-adherence effects included via trial effect on PFS and OS; cost calculations account for relative dose intensity

ERG: Noted possible drawbacks to oral therapies such as non-adherence with unmodelled negative effect on efficacy

Committee: Any non-adherence adequately accounted for in cost-effectiveness modelling

ICER impact: negligible

treatment sequencing

Consideration of second-line use of dabrafenib plus trametinib

Company: Most people with BRAF V600-mutated NSCLC would receive dabrafenib plus trametinib first line; second-line population small and declining due to testing delays being resolved

ERG: Noted sample size in second-line analysis was very small and cohort had previous chemotherapy not immunochemotherapy; effectiveness when used second line was uncertain

Committee: Second-line population likely to fall substantially; unable to consider cost-effectiveness for previously treated NSCLC due to absence of evidence

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

utility source

Source of health-state utility values

Company: Health state utilities from NICE's technology appraisal guidance on pralsetinib; adverse event disutilities from tepotinib guidance

ERG: Same source approach

Committee: Acceptable as in line with other similar appraisals in disease area

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

utility value choice

Modelling intravenous disutility for pembrolizumab plus platinum chemotherapy

Company: Modelled disutility decrement of 0.023 per cycle for IV infusion, later modified to only incur in cycles where IV infusion occurred

ERG: Did not include disutility decrement in base case; considered the value too high compared to other health states, obtained via non-reference case method

Committee: Did not explicitly model disutility in base case, but would consider as potentially uncaptured health benefit; noted plausibility but difficulty in quantification

ICER impact: uncertain_direction

Evidence gaps

single arm evidence onlyClinical effectiveness evidence comes from single-arm trial BRF113928 with no direct comparison to comparator
no direct comparisonNo studies directly comparing dabrafenib plus trametinib with pembrolizumab plus platinum chemotherapy in BRAF V600 mutation-positive advanced NSCLC
short follow upFLATIRON database had limited follow up for comparison purposes
no direct comparisonNo head-to-head trial evidence; MAIC used to compare BRF113928 (dabrafenib plus trametinib single-arm data) with KEYNOTE-189 (pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy)
single arm evidence onlyBRF113928 trial is single-arm for dabrafenib plus trametinib, limiting comparability
short follow upMAIC results considered very uncertain; committee noted uncertainty around treatment effect extrapolation
no uk dataLimited UK-specific data; NHS England Blueteq data on patient numbers referenced but exact figures confidential

Commercial arrangement

simple discount pas · confidential · critical for recommendation

Special considerations

Cancer Drugs Fund eligible