Reimbursement expanded for Takeda’s Adcetris and Alunbrig

Adcetris approved as first-line treatment for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Alunbrig’s reimbursement extended only 7 months after indication expansion

Takeda Korea has achieved continuous success in expanding reimbursement for its anticancer drugs, increasing the company’s hold over the market.

 

According to industry sources, starting from April 1st, the government has decided to grant reimbursement for Takeda Korea’s antibody-drug conjugate ‘Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin)’ as a first-line treatment for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and its anaplastic lymphoma kinase(ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) ‘Alunbrig (brigatinib)’ as a first-line treatment for ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

 

Takeda Korea had also previously received approval to expand the scope of reimbursement for its poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) Inhibitor, ‘Zejula (niraparib)’ as maintenance treatment.

 

Specifically, Adcetris can now be prescribed with reimbursement as first-line treatment for patients with previously untreated Hodgkin lymphoma and for patients with previously untreated CD30-positive systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) who have an IPS (International Prognostic Score) of 4 or higher (If the patient is ALK-positive, those who have an IPS of 2 or higher may be covered) ‘Hodgkin lymphoma (HL)’ and 'systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL),’ a non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtype, are malignant tumors that develop in the lymphoid tissues that make up the immune system.

 

In general, 30% to 40% of stage 3 to 4 HL patients experience treatment failure despite first-line treatment with the existing combination chemotherapy, ABVD (adriamycin+bleomycin+vinblastine+dacarbazine).

 

Also, 26% of the ABVD treated group experienced disease progression, relapse, or death within 5 years.

 

For Alunbrig, a new reimbursement criterion has been added for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC, and the phrase ‘those who have been previously treated with crizotinib’ was removed from the second-line reimbursement criteria.

 

The decision to approve the first-line administration of Alunbrig was based on the government’s review of the NCCN guidelines, where Alunbrig is recommended as category 1 preferred regimen for ALK-positive NSCLC, and that its Phase 3 trial results demonstrated that its clinical utility is comparable to other reimbursed replacements like ‘Alexenza (alectinib)’ and ‘Zykadia (ceritinib).’ However, reimbursement is not approved for patients wishing to change therapies for no specific reason or those receiving Alexenza or Zykadia that wishes to switch to a different ALK inhibitor due to disease progression.

 

Myung-Ju Ahn, a professor of Hematology & Oncology at Samsung Seoul Medical Center said, “In addition to meeting the unmet demand that still remains in the current treatment environment, its ease of medication also provides a therapeutic advantage as it only requires a once-daily intake for disease management."