# Cost-effectiveness of sacituzumab tirumotecan in previously treated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer in China

**Authors:** Shuo Kang, Shuo Yang, Yize Jia, Shan Zhao

PMC · DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0343330 · 2026-03-06

## TL;DR

This study evaluates whether sacituzumab tirumotecan is a cost-effective treatment for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer in China compared to chemotherapy.

## Contribution

The study provides a cost-effectiveness analysis of sacituzumab tirumotecan from the Chinese healthcare system perspective.

## Key findings

- Sacituzumab tirumotecan provided 0.35 additional QALYs but had an ICER of $162,799/QALY, exceeding China's WTP threshold.
- Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed 0% cost-effective probability at the WTP threshold of $40,326/QALY.
- Subgroup analyses confirmed sacituzumab tirumotecan was not cost-effective for any patient subgroup.

## Abstract

The OptiTROP-Breast01 trial demonstrated the efficacy of sacituzumab tirumotecan for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The current analysis evaluated the cost-effectiveness of sacituzumab tirumotecan compared with chemotherapy for patients with metastatic TNBC from the Chinese health-care system perspective.

A partitioned survival model (PSM) was developed to simulate 3-week patients in 10-year time horizon to access the disease course and cost-effectiveness of sacituzumab tirumotecan compared with chemotherapy for metastatic TNBC patients, cost and utility values were gathered from the dataset and published studies, annual discount rate of 5% was used. Total cost, life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were the model outputs. Sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses were conducted to estimate the robustness of the model outcomes.

In base-case analysis, compared with chemotherapy, sacituzumab tirumotecan could bring additional 0.41 LYs and 0.35 QALYs, with marginal costs of $55,927.31, resulting in the ICER of $162,799.04/QALY, which high than the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $40,326 per additional QALY gained. One-way sensitivity analyses revealed that the utility value was the main driver of the model outputs. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed the cost-effective probability of sacituzumab tirumotecan was 0% at the WTP threshold of $40,326/QALY. Subgroup analyses suggested that sacituzumab tirumotecan could not be considered cost-effective for all subgroup patients.

Sacituzumab tirumotecan was unlikely to be the cost-effective option for patients with metastatic TNBC compared with chemotherapy from the Chinese health-care system perspective, reduced the price of sacituzumab tirumotecan could increase its cost-effective.

## Linked entities

- **Diseases:** triple-negative breast cancer (MONDO:0005494)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** ERBB2 (erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2) [NCBI Gene 2064] {aka CD340, HER-2, HER-2/neu, HER2, MLN 19, MLN-19}, PRs [NCBI Gene 5640]
- **Diseases:** Breast cancer (MESH:D001943), TNBC (MESH:D064726), PD (MESH:D018450), toxicity (MESH:D064420), Death (MESH:D003643), cancer (MESH:D009369), Disease (MESH:D004194)
- **Chemicals:** sacituzumab govitecan (MESH:C000608132), KL610023 (-)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Figures

6 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12965532/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12965532