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To assess the cost per life year gained of alpha interferon (IFN) as adjuvant therapy for patients with high-risk resected melanoma, we conducted a retrospective, incremental cost-effectiveness analysis on clinical data from a previously published ECOG trial [9]. The Gompertz model was used to estimate the total lifetime values of patient-years of subjects receiving IFN in comparison with subjects given no adjuvant treatment. The ECOG trial involved 143 patients treated with high-dose IFN and 137 given no adjuvant treatment. Estimated drug expenditures were based on the assumption of a cost of $109.25 per 10 MU of IFN. Our analysis of the ECOG results showed that the adjuvant treatment of 100 subjects with high-dose IFN improved survival expectancy by 133.6 discounted life years or 308 undiscounted life years. The use of IFN (compared with no adjuvant treatment) implied an incremental cost of $16467 per …