Background Targeted anticancer treatments (TATs) are drugs or other substances that act on a specific target or biological pathway associated with tumour growth and dissemination. These treatments can be used alone or in combination with chemotherapy in first-line, refractory, or relapsed settings.

Purpose To evaluate the use of TAT in adult onco/haematological patients treated in our hospital and to estimate the financial impact of these treatments.

Materials and methods Retrospective study of adult onco/hematological patients treated with TAT from February 2011 to September 2011. Literature was reviewed to define the drugs classified as TAT. Data were obtained from: pharmacy management program, hospital oncology software and outpatient pharmacotherapy history. Variables studied were: TAT, number of patients, chemotherapy protocols (used in combination with chemotherapy or monotherapy), treatment cost.

Results 1788 active patients received chemotherapy during the study period of whom 536 (29.98%) were in treatment with some TAT. The distribution of patients being treated with each drug was the following:

TATs were used in combination with conventional chemotherapy in 268 patients and in 301 patients as monotherapy. Cost of TAT was 6,357,299.55 euros which represented 73.15% of total cost of all chemotherapy treatments (8,690,640.4 euros).

Conclusions Targeted treatment is a widely used cancer treatment option. Most of the financial cost of cancer treatment is related to TATs so these drugs should be selected and used correctly according to hospital protocols.