[Reporter's view] Tagrisso's first benefit

AstraZeneca's lung cancer drug Tagrisso has begun receiving benefits for first-line treatment.

 

After 5 challenges, he passed the HIRA Cancer Disease Review Board.

 

After adding the first treatment indication in December 2018, Tagrisso actively tried to expand benefits but was rejected by the review committee every time.

 

The reason was that looking at the data of the phase 3 sub-analysis, the effect of improving overall survival in Asians could not be confirmed.

 

The controversy over the efficacy of Tagrisso was started by Japan and ended by Japan.

 

In the phase 3 FLAURA clinical trial, Japan had the greatest impact in making the OS values of Asians insignificantly different from those of the control group.

 

The medical environment where drug switching is free is a crazy aftermath.

 

The real damage was seen by Korean patients.

 

In Japan, the first benefit is applied regardless of the results of the sub-analysis, but in Korea, because of this data, they had to receive treatment without benefit for more than 4 years.

 

It is also Japan that has quelled OS doubts in Asia.

 

Last year, Japan's large-scale real-world data came out.

 

Real-world data is not clinical in a controlled environment, so it is generally less effective than data from clinical practice.

 

However, Tagrisso showed a longer progression-free survival period and an overall survival period of more than 3 years compared to the phase 3 trial in the Japanese real world.

 

There is no longer any need to argue over phase 3 sub-data.

 

Already, the first-line Tagrisso therapy has fully established itself as a global trend for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.

 

A German professor of hemato-oncology whom I met in an interview last year expressed some disapproval at the reporter's question, "What do you think of the sequential treatment that uses the first and second generations first and then the third generation?" This is because I had never thought about sequential therapy after Tagrisso.

 

His answer was, "I heard that even in Germany, a small number of hospitals choose sequential treatment.

 

However, since Tagrisso has already become the clear first-line standard treatment, to be honest, I have never thought about sequential treatment.

 

I'm sorry I couldn't give you an answer.

 

it was" It will take a little longer for Tagrisso to become the standard first-line therapy in Korea.

 

Concern about cancer is just the beginning of reimbursement for anticancer drugs, and in the future, drug price negotiations with the HIRA and the NHIS, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare must all pass.

 

Now it's a speed battle.

 

Depending on how long it stays on the drug rating, the Tagrisso benefit expansion could be over the year or within the year.

 

First of all, AstraZeneca has a very high will to cooperate with the government as much as possible and expedite the process.

 

The HIRA also has many new drugs to review for reimbursement adequacy.

 

But it's only 4 years.

 

The fact that the first petition for Tagrisso's salary exceeded 50,000 people can be said to have reached its maximum level of desperation.

 

I hope that their wait will not exceed 5 years.