8th meeting for Keytruda’s 3+ yrs pending reimb. to be held

Meeting to be held on the 26th… MSD Korea proposed an alternative equivalent to the burden of the initial administration cost

A virtual failure if the final cost-sharing proposal is rejected…eyes are on whether the committee accepts the proposal

The cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda will be up for its 8th deliberation by the Cancer Drug Review Committee.

 

According to industry sources, MSD Korea’s application to expand the reimbursement of ‘Keytruda (pembrolizumab)’ to cover first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is expected to be put on the agenda for deliberation by the Cancer Drug Review Committee on the 26th.

 

In March, MSD Korea had once again revised and submitted a final cost-sharing proposal to the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA).

 

The reimbursement expansion for Keytruda had been discussed since September 2017, and over 3 years had already passed with no result.

 

The biggest barrier to the reimbursement was the condition that the government set for the reimbursement expansion to companies of immunotherapy drugs, for 'the pharmaceutical companies' to bear the administration cost of the initial 3 cycles.' Roche, which owned ‘Tecentriq(atezolizumab),’ a latecomer to the market, was the only company to accept the government’s condition, and 2 types of PD-1 inhibitors – Keytruda and ‘Opdivo(nivolumab)’ did not accept the condition.

 

Since then, MSD had repeatedly submitted and revised its proposal.

 

The last discussion was held in August last year, during which the decision for the drug was put on hold as the committee believed that MSD Korea’s proposal lacked compromise on the company’s part.

 

In September of the same year, HIRA handed the proposal back to MSD Korea and requested a re-revision.

 

A month later, MSD Korea submitted a re-revised proposal, which was discussed by the reimbursement standard sub-committee meeting but to no avail.

 

The agenda of Keytruda’s reimbursement was not deliberated by the Cancer Drug Review Committee.

 

So, once again, MSD Korea submitted a cost-sharing plan to HIRA.

 

The proposal submitted by MSD this time contains an offer equivalent to the company ‘covering the initial 3 cycles’ worth of administration cost’ by measures including adjusting the reimbursement rate.

 

If this proposal is again deliberated and rejected by the Cancer Drug Review Committee, the possibility of expanding reimbursement of Keytruda may virtually be difficult.

 

An MSD official said, “Although we cannot share details as discussions with the government are still ongoing, we will do our best so that our patients in Korea can promptly receive the global standard-of-care treatment.”