The cost of cancer treatments reached NT$139.9 billion last year, including NT$39.4 billion for drug fees. Dr Shih Chung-Liang, the Director-General of the NHIA, expressed that the expenditure on cancer treatments has grown by over 9%, far higher than the 4% of the NHI global budget. The NHI is bearing a heavy financial burden from treating cancer patients. Moreover, the fast advance of precision medicine has made the situation even more unsustainable. Many promising new drugs received licenses at Phase II clinical trials, even though the efficacy evidence is yet to be conclusive. Therefore, the NHIA set up the “Center for Health Policy and HTA” with a view to creating a sound ecosystem for precision medicine.
Dr Shih attended the 2024 Cancer Summit Forum held by the United Daily and expressed the authority’s viewpoints about the NHI’s cancer treatment policy concerning new drugs and new technology. Dr Shih stressed that the NHI has already included 162 cancer drugs in the benefit scheme, including 63 targeted therapies. The NHI also provides cell therapy, which costs NT$8.19 million per dose. Targeted therapy accounts for the highest cost; therefore, it is essential to assess its efficacy and to give the treatment to the most suitable patients. In order to accelerate patients’ access to the best and newest drugs, the NHI has increased the budget for new drugs from NT$3 billion to NT$7 billion. Furthermore, the NHI is planning to set up a cancer drug fund and to implement a parallel review system to speed up the new drug listing process.
Starting from May, the NHI will provide Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) tests for screening 19 cancers. According to Dr Shih, the NHIA has plans for three reimbursement schemes: payment for testing BRCA, payment for testing a small set of gene loci, and payment for testing a large set of over 100 gene loci. The NHI will reimburse 10K, 20K, and 30K points, respectively. The reimbursement of large set NGS tests is to facilitate patients’ participation in new drug clinical trials for early access to treatment. The NGS test results will be uploaded to the NHI database to assist in follow-up treatments and further drug R&D.
Dr Shih highlighted the importance of screening in preventing precancerous lesions. The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) has been promoting the screening of hepatitis B and C and Helicobacter pylori to reduce the occurrence of liver cancer and stomach cancer. The NHIA is going to expand the screening of Helicobacter pylori later this year, said Dr Shih.
【2024-04-16 / United Daily 】
