{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T10:14:42Z","timestamp":1785406482485,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,24]],"date-time":"2026-06-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782259200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Science and Technology Council","award":["114-2314-B-006-107-MY3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["114-2314-B-006-107-MY3"]}]},{"award":["114-2314-B-006-107-MY3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["114-2314-B-006-107-MY3"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02kv4zf79","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004844","name":"National Cheng Kung University Hospital","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NCKUH-11502015"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NCKUH-11502015"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004844","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["NCKUH-11502015"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NCKUH-11502015"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04zx3rq17","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Current Oncology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Patients with BRAFV600E-mutated metastatic lung cancer benefit from both BRAF plus MEK inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)\u2013chemotherapy. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of first-line ICI\u2013chemotherapy compared with BRAF plus MEK inhibitors in these patients. This economic analysis, with a 15-year time horizon and an annual 3% discount, was conducted from the perspective of the healthcare sectors in Taiwan and the US. Simulated patients were entered into partitioned survival models upon initiation of first-line therapies. The model inputs were derived from the FRONT-BRAF study (progression-free\/overall survival, adverse events, and subsequent therapies), insurance payments or retail prices (costs of drugs, physician visits, monitoring, adverse events, and end-of-life care), and a hospital cohort (health utility). Deterministic and probabilistic analyses were performed. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) of ICI\u2013chemotherapy compared with BRAF plus MEK inhibitors (Taiwan: $73,561\/QALY; US: $290,279\/QALY) exceeded the willingness-to-pay (WTP) thresholds (Taiwan: $70,000\/QALY; US: $150,000\/QALY). The drug costs of subsequent therapies and the utility values of the progressive-disease state were the major determinants of ICERs. In Taiwan, ICI\u2013chemotherapy had a 41.0% probability of being cost-effective at the WTP threshold. ICI\u2013chemotherapy had a higher probability of being cost-effective than BRAF plus MEK inhibitors when the WTP exceeded $300,000\/QALY in the US. Our analysis suggests that, despite the longer survival of first-line ICI\u2013chemotherapy compared with BRAF plus MEK inhibitors, ICI\u2013chemotherapy is not a cost-effective strategy for patients with BRAFV600E-mutated metastatic lung cancer.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol33070384","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T03:20:21Z","timestamp":1782357621000},"page":"384","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Cost-Effectiveness of First-Line Immunochemotherapy Versus BRAF Plus MEK Inhibitors in BRAFV600E-Mutated Metastatic Lung Cancer"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Chian-Wei","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jui-Hung","family":"Tsai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan"},{"name":"National Cheng Kung University Hospital Cancer Center, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sheng-Han","family":"Tsai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Statistics, College of Management, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-4174-1840","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Li-Jun","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4120-0394","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Szu-Chun","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"244","article-title":"BRAF mutant non-small cell lung cancer and treatment with BRAF inhibitors","volume":"2","author":"Viteri","year":"2013","journal-title":"Transl. 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