Optimizing Multiple Myeloma Treatment as Therapy Costs Rise: Matias Sanchez, MD

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The therapeutic landscape for multiple myeloma has evolved substantially in recent years, with innovations improving outcomes in a challenging disease to treat. However, cutting-edge therapies come at a cost, presenting challenges for providers, patients, and the health care system.

This was the core of a panel discussion at a recent Institute for Value-Based Medicine® event held in Chicago, Illinois. Panelist Matias Sanchez, MD, a hematologist-oncologist at University of Illinois Health, discussed key points from the discussion in an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®.

"I think the main important takeaway is that the cost for the treatment of multiple myeloma is increasingly, exponentially increasing," Sanchez said. "I think that is something we should all be aware of. They are very effective therapies, but at the same time, very costly."

With costs rising, he added that mitigating expenses where possible is crucial. One way to do this is by moving therapies that have traditionally required lengthy hospitalization—namely, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies and bispecific antibodies—to the outpatient setting. Administering CAR T-cell therapies in the outpatient setting has the potential to improve therapy access, reduce costs, and improve the patient experience, but it requires careful planning and rigorous standards to ensure patient safety.1

"Use protocols that target that patient population, and use all the strategies that we can," Sanchez said. "Follow up with the patients as an outpatient, use medications to prevent [cytokine release syndrome], monitor their vital signs as an outpatient, and develop the resources [needed] for patients to be followed as an outpatient."

Ensuring the system can bill for these services appropriately in the outpatient setting is also important from a reimbursement standpoint, he noted. Collaboration with payers is crucial to successfully implementing outpatient administration of these therapies and ensuring equitable access for patients.1

Reference

Gatwood K, Mahmoudjafari Z, Baer B, et al. Outpatient CAR T-cell therapy as standard of care: current perspectives and considerations. Clin Hematol Int. 2024;6(2):11-20. doi:10.46989/001c.115793