Is pemigatinib covered by medical insurance?

Pemigatinib is a prescription drug used to treat adults with cholangiocarcinoma that has spread or cannot be removed with surgery, including patients who have been previously treated and those whose tumors have certain types of abnormalitiesFGFR2 genes. It is not known whether pemetinib is safe and effective in children.

Doctors will typically test a patient's cancer for certain types of abnormalities in the FGFR2 gene and make sure pemetinib is appropriate. Pemetinib is approved based on tumor response and duration of response, and ongoing studies show whether pemetinib can improve survival or improve symptoms. In mouse xenograft models of human tumors with alterations in FGFR1, FGFR2, or FGFR3, pemetinib demonstrated potent antitumor activity by inhibiting the growth of xenograft tumor models.

The original drug of pemetinib has been launched in China. Due to its short time on the market, it has not yet entered the scope of medical insurance. The price of each box of 4.5mg*14 tablets may be around 30,000 yuan, which is expensive. The price of the original pemetinib drug, 13.5mg*14 tablets, per box sold overseas may be around RMB 70,000 (the price may fluctuate due to exchange rates). There are also generic pemetinib drugs produced in other countries overseas. For example, the price of a box of 4.5mg*21 tablets produced by a Laos pharmaceutical factory may be around 3,000 yuan (the price may fluctuate due to the exchange rate). The price is relatively cheap. The pharmaceutical ingredients of the generic drugs are basically the same as those of the original drugs at home and abroad.