韩国将Fintepla、Polivy纳入医保并扩大Blincyto医保覆盖

Annual treatment costs for patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare and intractable form of epilepsy, will fall to about 10 million won from roughly 100 million won as the drug used to treat it comes under South Korea's national health insurance. Newly covered blood cancer drugs and expanded coverage for others are also expected to improve treatment access for patients with severe and rare diseases.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 1st that it will apply national health insurance coverage to Fintepla, a treatment for Dravet syndrome, a rare and intractable epilepsy that begins in infancy and causes severe seizures and developmental delays.
Dravet syndrome, which develops within the first year of life, is difficult to treat because of frequent severe seizures and carries a heavy financial burden. The ministry projected that coverage for Fintepla will lower medical costs to about 10 million won per patient a year from roughly 100 million won.
Fintepla was selected for a pilot program that runs approval by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in parallel with reimbursement assessment and price negotiations by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The program cut the time needed to secure insurance coverage to 126 days from 240 days, about half the previous period.
Polivy, a new drug used in the initial treatment stage for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, will also be newly covered. Blincyto, a treatment for B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, will see its coverage expanded.
Blincyto had been covered only when cancer recurred or when existing treatments failed to work. Going forward, patients will be able to receive insurance benefits from the early stage of treatment, when the drug is used to clear residual microscopic cancer cells immediately after a first round of chemotherapy. Because the disease occurs most often in children under 5, the ministry said it expects the change to lower the risk of relapse in pediatric patients and widen their chances of a full recovery.
The ministry will also step up support for the stable supply of essential medicines. Choongwae Protamine 6% Injection, used to regulate blood pressure and stabilize blood circulation in newborns and premature infants, will be newly designated as a drug protected from market withdrawal, establishing a framework to cover its production costs. For Tuberculin PPD AJV Injection, a tuberculosis diagnostic reagent whose supply had been at risk because of rising import prices, the higher import price will be reflected in the drug's price promptly.
"We will continue to pursue rapid health insurance coverage for treatments for severe and rare diseases, and ensure that medicines essential to patient care are supplied stably," said Yoo Joo-heon, director general of the ministry's health insurance policy bureau.