In recent years, lung cancer treatment has been transformed with the arrival of novel systemic therapies. As a result, existing data on healthcare costs and survival outcomes may no longer be relevant, creating difficulties for health economic evaluations.

We developed and validated a discrete event simulation of lung cancer treatment; and found that new treatments have led to improvements in short-term overall survival with accompanying increases in healthcare costs.

Simulation modelling can be used to address data gaps created by evolving standards in oncology, enabling timely decision making on health policy.