Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of ANKTIVA for Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

ImmunityBio, Inc., headquartered in Culver City, California, has unveiled insights from a preliminary health economic analysis, showcasing the cost-effectiveness of ANKTIVA combined with Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) versus TAR-200 in treating non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Presented at the 2026 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research conference, the study centered on a Medicare population suffering from BCG-unresponsive carcinoma in situ with or without papillary disease.

The analysis employed a cost-consequence model using data from the QUILT-3.032 study for ANKTIVA plus BCG and the SunRISe-1 trial for TAR-200. Utilizing a multi-state Markov model, researchers incorporated critical clinical outcomes and evaluated cost aspects, including drug acquisition and healthcare resource utilization. The findings revealed a pronounced cost advantage for ANKTIVA plus BCG, attributed primarily to reduced drug acquisition and administration costs, resulting in a 49.6% complete response rate, surpassing the 45.9% seen with TAR-200.

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Founder and Executive Chairman of ImmunityBio, highlighted the treatment's value, emphasizing its capacity to deliver lasting responses and alleviate financial pressures on Medicare. Dr. Ruchika Talwar of Vanderbilt Health discussed broader implications, stressing the need for aligning therapeutic progress with economic sustainability in healthcare infrastructures. This analysis underscores the importance of treatments offering high efficacy alongside economic feasibility, crucial for managing complex conditions like BCG-unresponsive NMIBC.