Addition of AstraZeneca breast cancer drug Enhertu to China state insurance list
Written By : Ruchika Sharma
Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
Published On 2024-11-29 11:59 GMT | Update On 2024-11-29 11:59 GMT
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China: Enhertu, a blockbuster breast cancer drug of AstraZeneca, will be included in China's state-run health insurance scheme from January 1, as per a recent update from the National Healthcare Security Administration.
Addition to the national reimbursement list makes drugs more widely accessible to the citizens of the country with a population of 1.4 billion, but an increase in sales volume is often mitigated by lower prices.
Enhertu, co-developed with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo partly for breast cancer patients with HER-2 positive disease, is an antibody-drug conjugate designed to deliver toxic chemotherapy directly to tumors.
For females in China, breast cancer is the second most frequent cancer after lung cancer, according to 2022 estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The HER2 protein contributes to the growth and spread of breast cancer. About one in five patients are considered HER2-positive, according to AstraZeneca.
The price of drugs newly added to China's reimbursement list - a figure negotiated with drugmakers - will drop by 63% on average, state news agency Xinhua reported, adding that 91 new drugs had been included.
According to Reuters, the inclusion of Enhertu comes after AstraZeneca said earlier this month that its China president Leon Wang had been detained by Chinese authorities but it did not know why, weighing on the London-listed company's shares
Read also: Cancer drug: AstraZeneca Pharma India bags CSDCO permission to import Lynparza
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