Following much anticipation, the first wave of the applications for cell therapies has finally begun. According to sources, partnerships between E-da Hospital and Medigen, Tri-Service General Hospital and I Care Biotech, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and UnicoCell Biomed, China Medical University Hospital and Ever Supreme Bio Technology are among the first applicants. Among them, Tri-Service General Hospital’s has made the most progress and has begun enrolling patients, while others are expected clear the approval process soon and commence treatment.
After the completion of the initial round of pricing approval and recommendations during the beginning of April, applicants can expect to begin charging for treatments once they finalize specifics over payments with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良). Industry experts expect Taiwan’s cell therapy industry to begin taking shape before June and potentially bring in more than NT$10 billion in revenues.
The commercialization of Taiwan’s cell therapy industry has arrived at its final stage, with the applicants in the initial round including E-da Hospital, China Medical University Hospital, Tri-Service General Hospital and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Early estimate suggests that treatment would cost around NT$1 million per patient. Meanwhile, the second round of applications are set to begin this month with shorter processing time thanks to the experiences gained during the first round.
During the first round of applications, experts of various fields felt that in light of precedents set in Japan, the primary concern among patients in need of immediate cell therapy treatment is the payment method, rather than price, Director-General Shih said, noting that these concerns had led to a longer approval timeframe during the initial round of applications.
Director-General Shih said that factors to consider regarding the payment method must be linked to outcome of treatments. Variables could include a patient’s death and inability to continue treatment.
In terms of market scale, statistics show that Taiwan has been adding 80,000 to 10,000 new cancer patients each year, of which, 10 percent to 20 percent are late-stage patients. Based on these estimates, late-stage cancer patients alone would require at least NT$10 billion in treatments based with cell therapy treatments beginning at NT$1 million per patient.
【2019-4-16 / Economic Daily News】
