Author byline as per print journal: Tomás Abbot1, MSc; Nicolás Armijo1, MSc; Robin Piron2, PhD; Manuel Espinoza1, 3, PhD

Introduction: In Chile, access disparities and budget constraints affect the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, even though therapies like rituximab are covered by the Regime of Explicit Health Guarantees. Biosimilars like Rixathon® offer a compelling alternative with similar efficacy at lower cost. This study conducted a budget impact analysis to assess the introduction of Rixathon® for follicular lymphoma (FL) and diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (DLBCL) patients from Chilean healthcare system perspective.
Methods: A budget impact model was developed to estimate the cost difference between the actual scenario and a scenario considering greater Rixathon® coverage over a five-year period. Annual population was estimated based on rituximab sales data from 2015‒2022 adjusted with corresponding factors. This study focused on differences in the total sum of acquisition and administration costs. Several scenarios were developed and analysed, including time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) to estimate administration costs.
Results: The projected population increases from 1,274 to 1,297 individuals for 2023–2027. Scenario 1 demonstrated that Rixathon® generated net cost savings of US$208,553 in 2023 or US$6,728 per patient, potentially enabling 49 additional patients to access Rixathon®. Similar trends are observed in Scenario 2 and 3. The TDABC analysis revealed that the increment in administration costs were offset by the savings achieved through Rixathon® acquisition.
Conclusion: Incorporating Rixathon® for FL and DLBCL patients was associated with savings in acquisition costs and its coverage could be extended to more patients. Administration costs resulted in a marginal incremental cost that was offset by the biosimilar net savings.

Submitted: 5 December 2023; Revised: 19 February 2024; Accepted: 26 February 2024; Published online first: 4 March 2024

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This manuscript has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record.