Taiwan has always been proud of its easy access to healthcare services. However, Taiwan is, in fact, lagging behind in cancer treatments. All stakeholders have high expectations for the promise of the "New Cancer Drugs Fund" made by the incoming President Lai Ching-Te. They hope this promise will be realized to enhance the quality of healthcare in Taiwan.
According to the MOHW’s data, one in four people died of cancer in 2022, equating to approximately 1 cancer death every 10 minutes and 7 seconds. President Lai hopes to reduce the cancer death rate by one-third by 2030 and promises to allocate NT$10 billion to establish a new cancer drug fund, aiming to improve patients' access to new drugs.
Legislator Wang Cheng-Hsu (DPP), who is also a haematologist oncologist, noted that while cancer treatment advances rapidly, it comes with a substantial price tag. Moreover, the NHI listing process takes more than 400 days, and reimbursement conditions are often very stringent. For many cancer patients, new drugs are simply too expensive, arrive too late, and are out of reach.
Dr Yang Chi-Hsin, the Superintendent of the NTU Cancer Hospital, expressed that while he once held a high opinion of cancer treatment in Taiwan, over the past five years, it has fallen far behind. The reason is clear: patients cannot access new drugs, thus doctors cannot accumulate experience in new treatments. Consequently, Taiwan lags behind international treatment guidelines, making it less attractive to sponsors of new drug trials.
In essence, the virtue of easy access under the NHI does not extend to cancer patients. Moreover, indicators such as overall healthcare expenditure and avoidable mortality have been surpassed even by South Korea. It is against this backdrop that the concept of the new cancer drug fund has emerged.
Patient groups previously concentrated solely on access to new drugs. However, over the past 10 years, cancer drug fees have increased at an annual rate of 10%, approximately twice as fast as the growth of the global budget. This growth is not sustainable. Consequently, the concept of a new drug fund with diverse funding sources, including taxes on sugar and tobacco, donations, etc., began to take shape gradually.
Dr Shih Chung-Liang, the Director-General of the NHIA, visited the UK to learn from their experience. In his visit report, he highlighted that the UK established a cancer drug fund in 2011 to offer an interim solution for promising new cancer drugs while awaiting more data on efficacy and cost-effectiveness. The fund is primarily supported by tax income and was expanded from £50 million to £340 million in 2015. However, despite this expansion, there was still a budget deficit of 37% in 2015.
【2024-04-29 / China Times】
