Health‐related quality of life in oncology drug reimbursement submissions in Canada: A review of submissions to the pan‐Canadian Oncology Drug Review

Abstract

In Canada, the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) evaluates and makes recommendations for the reimbursement of cancer drugs. One component of its recommendation is based on an economic evaluation, which typically takes the form of a cost‐utility analysis. A cost‐utility analysis measures the effects of competing therapies with quality‐adjusted life‐years (QALYs). The data for this calculation typically come from generic, preference‐based measures of health‐related quality of life (HRQOL). The objective of this review is to determine the frequency at which HRQOL data are collected alongside cancer drug trials and used in the cost‐utility analysis submitted to the CADTH pan‐Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR).