Has Pitobrutinib/Pitobrutinib been included in the medical insurance policy in China?

Pirtobrutinib is a targeted therapy drug that represents a new generation of BTK inhibitors. Because of its unique non-covalent binding mechanism, it is considered an important choice to break through the limitations of traditional treatments. Its application in B-cell malignant hematological tumors has attracted particular attention, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), small lymphocytic lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma and other disease types. Compared with traditionalBTK inhibitors, pitubrutinib can still maintain a good inhibitory effect even when patients have drug-resistant mutations such as C481S, which provides new hope for patients who have failed or relapsed in previous treatments. At the same time, its safety performance is relatively stable and common adverse reactions are relatively controllable, so it has gradually occupied a place in international guidelines and clinical practice.

In China, with the rapid development of the field of hematological tumor treatment, pitubrutinib has completed marketing approval and has become an optional prescription drug for clinical use. Its approval not only reflects the speed of the introduction of innovative drugs globally, but also meets the urgent needs of some patients with refractory lymphoma and leukemia. However, the drug has not yet been included in China's national medical insurance list, and patients still need to pay for the drug at their own expense when using it, which undoubtedly adds huge pressure to patients with limited family financial conditions. Judging from the current sales situation in the domestic market, the price of pitubrutinib’s original drug is tens of thousands of yuan per box.

The coverage of medical insurance policies directly affects the accessibility of drugs. According to the trend of China's medical insurance negotiations in recent years, innovative anti-cancer drugs have gradually been included in the scope of medical insurance in order to reduce patients' medication burden. With its outstanding value among drug-resistant people, pitubrutinib is more likely to enter medical insurance in the future, but this process still needs to go through price negotiation, cost assessment, and efficacy verification. Once included in medical insurance, it is expected that drug prices will drop significantly, and more patients will be able to receive long-term, standardized treatment, thereby improving the overall prognosis.

Reference materials:https://go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB17472