The drug price negotiations for Pfizer's third-generation ALK-positive lung cancer drug Lorviqua (lorlatinib) are being done in excessive secrecy, leading to growing frustration among patients waiting for its reimbursement.Lorviqua was not on the list of drugs that have completed drug price negotiat
The Cancer Disease Review Committee (CDRC) of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) has once again deferred its decision on expanding coverage for Keytruda (pembrolizumab), as requested by MSD Korea.Nine agenda items – two new reimbursement cases and seven expanded reimbursement
Almost one year has passed since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the lifting of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but is Korea building a long-term Covid-19 management system without a hitch?On May 5, 2023, the WHO declared that Covid-19 no longer constituted a
The history of hemophilia treatment over the past 100 years has been remarkable, from plasma transfusions to the development of clotting factors and to the advent of antibody and gene therapies.The goal of hemophilia treatment, which was once urgent to save lives, has been upgraded with various ther
Janssen's Rybrevant (amivantamab), a treatment for EGFR exon20 insertion non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a rare form of lung cancer with a poor prognosis, is making its third attempt to get reimbursement in Korea.The drug’s third challenge for insurance coverage comes when the “nominality” of th
Saruparib, a next-generation PARP inhibitor in development by AstraZeneca, has garnered attention from cancer experts worldwide after showing clinical benefit in patients with homologous recombination repair-deficient (HRD) breast cancer.However, it is questionable whether Korean patients who face s
Novartis' rare disease treatment Ilaris (canakinumab) has crossed the threshold of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA)'s Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Evaluation Committee (PREC), which reexamined its “conditional” approval application.At the same meeting, the panel also recogni
"To eliminate hepatitis C, countries must test a wider range of people for the disease. Even low-income countries like Rwanda in Africa are testing all adults for hepatitis C. We have heard that Korea is also considering including Hepatitis C testing in its national screening program. It is importan
Influenza is an acute respiratory illness caused by a virus that can lead to complications in the respiratory system, including pneumonia, and major organ systems, including neurological complications, and in severe cases, death. It causes increased morbidity and mortality, especially in high-risk g
Leqvio (inclisiran), a cholesterol management drug that requires only two subcutaneous injections per year, is preparing to land in Korea.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) is reportedly reviewing Novartis Korea's application to license Leqvio. Approval is expected as early as the first hal
Starting next month, health insurance benefits will be applied to treating metastatic breast and gastric cancers with Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) in Korea. On Thursday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare convened the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee and approved the revised “Drug
The treatment of biliary tract cancer, one of the cancers with a poor prognosis, is changing rapidly. Immunotherapies and targeted anticancer drugs have been developed in a rush. However, none of them have been covered by health insurance in Korea, and patients and medical workers complain that the
Pfizer Korea’s attempts to expand reimbursement for its third-generation ALK inhibitor Lorviqua (lorlatinib) do not seem to bear fruit easily, according to industry sources.Some analysts have speculated that Pfizer Korea might have made a strategic choice in the drug price negotiations due to Lorviq
The health authorities recently designated “systemic pustular psoriasis” as a rare disease and included it in this year's special calculation targets, opening the way for the use of Spevigo (spesolimab) for the disease’s treatment.However, a big hurdle of insurance benefits remains before its treatm
As the Claudin 18.2 protein, also called CLDN18.2, emerges as a new target for treating gastric cancer, Astellas' first CLDN18.2-targeted cancer drug, zolbetuximab, is in the final stage of its launch, drawing the industry’s attention.However, the changing landscape of metastatic gastric cancer trea
Large hospitals have been paralyzed due to the government's unilateral push to increase the medical school enrollment quota for a month now.In other words, for over a month, specialists and professors have been working around the clock to fill the healthcare void left by the departure of interns, re
Gilead's Sunlenca (lenacapavir), which has been attracting attention for treating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with twice-yearly injections, will likely be administered for the first time in Korea.On Tuesday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) approved the therapeutic use of Sunlenca
As the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) prepares to announce the “Second Round Measures to Prevent and Control Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (2024-2028)” soon, poor access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has emerged as an issue.Many Koreans are believed to be purchasin
The developers of the innovative new drug Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) have recently ended price negotiations with the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) to receive reimbursement as early as next month.On Monday, the NHIS announced the settlement of Enhertu’s price bargaining by updating i
After the government announced it would stop providing free Covid-19 drugs and start charging for them in the first half of this year, concerns are growing about a treatment gap due to delays in discussing the reimbursement of related medications.According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention