- Patients who have an extreme CINV event in the first cycle are 6.5 times more likely to develop extreme events in later cycles.
- The cost to treat an event in later cycles is much higher with patients who had a first-cycle event versus those who did not.
- 1 in 9 patients receiving granisetron, ondansetron or dolasetron either made calls or returned to the practice due to an extreme CINV event.
- In phase III clinical trials, ALOXI® significantly reduced extreme CINV events compared to ondansetron/dolasetron (5.8% vs 10.6%, respectively). †
† Extreme CINV events were identified using daily diary nausea and vomiting data and were defined as
severe nausea and 
2 emetic episodes on any day
and severe nausea the following day, or 5 emetic episodes on any day and moderate or severe nausea the
following day. It was assumed that this degree of CINV would have led to an unscheduled call to
the practice.
References
- Vanscoy G, Rubenstein E, Smith R, et al. Pharmacoeconomic analysis of palonosetron in patients receiving moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. Abstract and poster presented at: The American Society of Healthy-System Pharmacists 39th Midyear Clinical Meeting; December 5-9, 2004; Orlando, Fla.
- Vanscoy GJ, Fortner B, Smith R, et al. Preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: the economic implications of choosing antiemetics. Community Oncol. 2005;2:127-132.