Why carry out this study?

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are rare malignancies that can have a substantial negative impact on patients’ health and quality of life.

Lanreotide autogel (LAN) and octreotide long-acting release (OCT), both long-acting somatostatin analogues, are first-line treatments for patients with NETs; however, only few studies have compared the two treatments.

This retrospective cohort study using the National System of Health Data (SNDS), a national French claims database, aimed to investigate the potential clinical and economic differences between LAN and OCT by evaluating patterns of use of first-line LAN and OCT and use of supplementary and second-line therapy.

What was learned from the study?

Patients treated with LAN had greater treatment duration and were less likely to discontinue treatment, switch to a different treatment, take a higher-than-recommended dose, or use rescue medication, compared with patients treated with OCT, suggesting potential clinical and economic advantages of LAN over OCT.

As a result of limitations inherent to database analyses, these findings should be further confirmed in controlled studies.