Reimbursement coverage for infliximab expanded to include Kawasaki disease
Besivo is available even after liver cancer progression
Boryung Pharmaceutical has completed preparations for the launch of Duekaro, which is the three-drug combination based on domestic drug Kanarb(fimasartan) and consisting of ARB + CCB + statin.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare preannounced the revision of the details of application criteria and methods of medical care benefits, and began collecting opinions by the 22nd with the aim of implementing it on the 1st of next month.
The revised bill includes the addition of amlodipine + fimasartan + rosuvastatin, the main ingredient of Duekaro, to the items of a oral combination of antihypertensive drug + hyperlipidemia drug.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare explained that five products, including Duekaro 30/5/5 milligrams, will be newly listed.
In addition, Ildong Pharmaceutical’s domestic new drug Besivo(besifovir) will be allowed for its continuous administration even when a patient, who started hepatitis B treatment with Besivo, progresses to liver cancer.
Infliximab agents, including Janssen’s Remicade, will be reimbursed when administered to refractory Kawasaki disease, which has yet to be approved.
Both typical and atypical types are reimbursed, and patients with fever lasting more than 36 hours after the end of intravenous immunoglobulin administration are eligible.
Dosage is limited to a single dose of 5mg/kg and co-administration with intravenous immunoglobulin is not allowed. Also, administration is not recommended for patients who are less than three months after the injection of live vaccine.
The reimbursement coverage of BMS’s Orencia expanded from polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis to include pauciarticular onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Meanwhile, the coverage limitations of Astellas’s Irribow, a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea, was removed, which was set for a maximum of 12 week.
On the other hand, BL&H’s acute allergic reaction treatment Jext, which was listed as an unlicensed urgent drug, will be removed from reimbursement list on 31 January following the six month grace period, and therefore, will be removed from coverage criteria as well.
