11 of the national essential drugs are non reimbursed

It was found that 11 of the drugs designated by The National Essential Medicine, excluding vaccines, are still non-reimbursed.

 

As of December 31, 2021, 511 species have been designated as the National Essential Medicine, and 158 types of infectious disease-related drugs excluding vaccines.

 

Of these, 11 drugs were not on the insurance benefit list.

 

However, Remdesivir, a treatment for COVID-19, is not reimbursed, but the government pays the full cost of the drug.

 

The national essential medicine refers to medicines that must be prepared in the country for national health, and was first discussed and introduced by the World Health Organization.

 

Through the pandemic of infectious diseases such as MERS and COVID-19, securing stable national essential drugs such as vaccines and treatments for preventing infectious diseases is recognized as the core of national security and national competitiveness.

 

However, it is pointed out that the problem of accessibility of the National Essential Medicine is still a blind spot.

 

In fact, the National Health and Welfare Committee's parliamentary audit last year raised questions about the suspension of the supply of The National Essential Medicine and the low health insurance benefit registration rate.

 

Non-payment drugs include Ceftolozane/Tazobactam injections (Zerbaxa), Isabuconazonium sulfate (Cresemba), Baloxavir (Xofluza), which had many clinical demands.

 

Zerbaxa is an antimicrobial drug that was expected to be introduced in Korea as a new treatment alternative to Carbapenem, which was approved in Korea in April 2017 as an indication of complex urinary tract infection and complex intraperitoneal infection by effective strains in adult patients.

 

Carbapenem-resistant-P.

 

aeruginosa is one of the top-priority pathogens that require research and development of new antibiotics.

 

Although Zerbaxa is an effective treatment for resistant bacteria that is not effective for Meropenem, it has been restricted from using Meropenem as an alternative and failed the benefit list despite high demand, but its appropriateness was recognized at the 6th Pharmaceutical Benefit Evaluation Committee held on the 2nd.

 

Cresemba is an antifungal drug that was licensed and non-reimbursed in Korea in January 2020 for invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis.

 

Like Zerbaxa, it is blocked by PE, which has to prove cost-effectiveness by comparing old drugs with alternatives, and despite the occurrence of COVID-19-related inert aspergillosis in Korea, it is currently non-reimbursed.

 

Invasive aspergillosis is one of the three major invasive fungi threatening humans, which occur in patients with reduced immunity, and is one of the causes of death in immunodeficiency patients due to the recent increase in chemotherapy or AIDS patients in Korea.

 

The flu treatment Xofluza was a new drug that was expected to replace Tamiflu and was approved in Korea in November 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Since receiving conditional non-reimbursement from the Drug Benefit Evaluation Committee in October 2020, there has been no update yet.

 

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has raised awareness of the rapid response of infectious diseases and the importance of drugs in policy and society, while access to infectious diseases, especially new drugs, remains before the pandemic.

 

Since drugs related to severe infectious diseases such as multidrug-resistant infections and invasive fungal infections are used in emergency situations, it is essential to secure various types of drugs so that they can be used immediately if necessary.

 

Choo Eun-joo, director of KSID's Insurance dept.

 

(Professor of Infectious Medicine at Bucheon Hospital at Sooncheonhyang University), said, "There are no antibacterial and antifungal drugs that have been reimbursed for the past five to seven years.

 

As drugs necessary for the treatment of fatal infectious diseases play a key role not only in the survival of individual patients but also in preventing the spread of infectious diseases, they should not be evaluated only from an economic perspective, she said.