Successful transition from bortezomib subcutaneous to generic intravenous bortezomib: Cost savings initiative with global economic impact.

e19375 Background: It is estimated that the U.S. will spend $370 billion in 2019 on pharmaceuticals and by 2020 the cost of cancer care will be approximately 158 billion. Cost containment strategies for high cost drugs are needed. There exists an opportunity to decrease overall cost related to bortezomib by switching patients to generic bortezomib. Generic bortezomib was first approved by the FDA in January 2018 but it can only be administered intravenously. Based on previous studies on occurrence of peripheral neuropathy we hypothesized that patients who have not developed bortezomib induced peripheral neuropathy (BIPN) after or during 4 cycles of subcutaneous (subQ) bortezomib could be switched to IV bortezomib without greatly increasing neuropathy. Methods: A protocol was implemented to switch patients from SubQ to IV bortezomib at our hematology outpatient clinic. Patients had to complete 4 cycles of SubQ bortezomib and have either Grade 1 or no BIPN to qualify to switch to IV bortezomib generic formulation. After approval from the hematology/oncology providers and nursing department, this protocol was implemented to start accrual in November 2018. After provider approval for eligible patients, pharmacists would update the treatment plan orders and also notify nursing and patients of the change. Results: Fifteen patients have received at least 1 cycle of IV generic bortezomib for various indications from Nov 2018 to Nov 2019, ranging from 1 cycle to 12 cycles. The diseases for which bortezomib was being used included multiple myeloma (n = 8) and AL amyloidosis (n = 2), renal transplant rejection and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Two of the 15 patients had Grade 1 BIPN prior to switching, while all others reported no neuropathy prior to the switch. None of the patients have developed new neuropathy after making the switch from subQ to IV bortezomib. Nursing and patient satisfaction surveys showed that majority of both groups did not have a preference for IV versus subQ administration. Conclusions: We describe a method to switch from subcutaneous bortezomib to generic IV bortezomib instituted at a large academic medical center as a cost containment strategy. This has resulted in no new cases of neuropathy in our growing data set.