Reimb of COVID-19 drugs necessary with eased crisis level

COVID-19 remains a threat to those with underlying diseases or old age even despite its transition to an endemic

Veklury is the only one with severe COVID-19 indication, Paxlovid can be administered easily as an oral preparation

Whether COVID-19 treatments will be able to be listed for reimbursement before Korea's COVID-19 containment measures are lifted remains under attention.

 

Two COVID-19 treatments, Gilead Science Korea’s ‘Veklury (remdesivir)’ and Pfizer Korea’s ‘Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir+ritonavir),’ are currently under review by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service after the companies filed applications for their reimbursement.

 

The government had previously announced that it would work to reimburse COVID-19 treatments in H2 2024 as part of its COVID-19 risk level management roadmap.

 

This means that the COVID-19 treatments that are being supplied free of charge will be converted and become purchased products like general medicine.

 

When Phase 2 of the COVID-19 risk level management roadmap, which will further ease the disease control and prevention system, is implemented next month, COVID-19 will then be regarded as a Grade 4 infectious disease like influenza.

 

Not dangerous because it’s an endemic?...

 

Improving awareness remains a key issue However, the road to reimbursement for these treatments is not easy.

 

Not only are the prices expensive, but the sharp decline in the public’s sense of crisis is also playing a significant role.

 

COVID-19 has shifted from a pandemic into an endemic, but it is still producing variants that threaten high-risk patients such as those with underlying diseases and the elderly.

 

The 'Excess mortality during COVID-19’ submitted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in October to the office of Democratic Party of Korea Rep.

 

Choun Sook Jung, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, that cites data from Statistics Korea, the number of excess deaths continued to be on the rise until recently due to the aftermath of COVID-19.

 

According to the report, ‘excess deaths’ from COVID-19 had exceeded 65,000.

 

‘Excess deaths’ refer to additional deaths beyond the number of deaths normally expected to occur at a particular period.

 

This figure indicates how many more deaths occurred compared to when COVID-19 had not occurred.

 

Eun-Joo Choo, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, said, “COVID-19 is still a disease that requires active treatment and management, and many patients are still being hospitalized for the disease.

 

Its treatments need to be listed with reimbursement immediately upon the closure of the free support system next year to ensure treatment access for the patients and to secure essential drugs.” Both drugs are necessary...due to different roles Although both were approved as COVID-19 treatments, Veklury and Paxlovid differ in terms of indication, and formulation, among others.

 

Veklury has been verified to have slowed down disease progression in many COVID-19 patients, reducing the time to recovery and thereby reducing the burden on Korea’s medical system.

 

It was approved to treat COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of progressing to severe disease.

 

It can be administered regardless of the severity of the patient’s disease and aids in quicker recovery by offering a lower risk of disease progression with earlier treatment.

 

Also, it is a treatment whose efficacy and safety have been proven through several clinical trials and RWE and is the only COVID-19 treatment that can be used on patients with severe COVID-19.

 

In particular, it has little drug-drug interactions (DDI), and comes in an injectable formulation that can be administered to patients who have difficulty taking oral medications.

 

Paxlovid, which comes in an easy-to-take oral formulation, is approved to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at risk of progressing to severe COVID-19, which includes hospitalization and death.

 

Paxlovid needs to be taken within five days of developing symptoms and is administered twice daily for 5 days.

 

In the EPIC-HR trial that was conducted on non-hospitalized symptomatic adult subjects with COVID-19 who are at high risk of progressing to severe disease and have no prior history of vaccination, Paxlovid significantly reduced the proportion of people with COVID-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause through 28 days of follow-up by 86% compared to placebo among patients treated within 5 days of symptom onset and who did not receive COVID-19 therapeutic monoclonal antibody treatment.