The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said it plans to expand the coverage eligibility for receiving a third-generation targeted drug for lung cancer patients with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) starting next month.
The eligibility would be expanded to include people with stage 3b EGFR-mutated lung cancer, which is expected to benefit about 4,000 people, allowing them to save about NT$1.15 million (US$36,005) per year in medical expenses.
The expanded eligibility is expected to cost the NHI program between NT$4.1 billion and NT$5 billion per year, and with the annual expense of about NT$3.3 billion on eligible patients, the targeted drug would be the most expensive single type of drug in NHI history.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer in Taiwan and KRAS mutations occur in about 20 to 40 percent of lung adenocarcinomas in Western populations, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said.
However, in Taiwan, KRAS mutations only occur in about 8 to 10 percent of patients with lung adenocarcinomas, while EGFR mutations occur in about 55 to 60 percent of patients with lung adenocarcinomas, he said.
The NHI program since April 2020 has conditionally covered a third-generation targeted drug called Tagrisso (osimertinib) for the treatment of EGFR-mutated lung cancer, but the eligibility was reduced in April 2022, which had caused an uproar among patients and medical professionals.
Studies published in international journals have suggested that compared with the first-generation targeted drug, the third-generation drug can reduce the risk of mortality by 20 percent.
With many calls for the NHI program to expand eligibility, Shih said the administration plans to expand the eligibility of Tagrisso from its current eligibility of stage 4 (metastasized) lung cancer to include stage 3b EGFR-mutated lung cancer with local invasiveness or metastases.
The Pharmaceutical Benefit and Reimbursement Scheme Joint Committee has approved the expanded eligibility, and it is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1 at the earliest, he said.
About 3,400 people are treated with Tagrisso each year, which is an NHI expenditure of about NT$3.3 billion per year, NHIA statistics showed. After the eligibility expansion, it would increase the expenditure to more than NT$7 billion.
The total expenditure for NHI-covered medical treatment last year was more than NT$24.3 billion, the highest among all cancer types, and drug fees accounted for NT$12.2 billion, with a five-year average growth rate of 12.7 percent.
Regarding people with lung cancer without gene mutations that cannot receive the targeted drug, Shih said specialists have suggested including immunotherapy drugs for treating metastasized small cell lung cancer in NHI coverage, so there might be good news after the agency negotiates with drug companies.
An estimated 272 to 359 patients each year are expected to benefit from it, allowing them to save about NT$1.45 million per person per year, he added.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS