How much does one year of zolbetuximab treatment cost approximately?

Zolbetuximab (zolbetuximab-clzb) is a new type of monoclonal antibody anti-cancer drug. It is mainly used to treat HER2-negative and CLDN18.2-positive locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. The drug is currently on the market in China, but due to its short time on the market, it has not been included in the scope of medical insurance, and the domestic price has not yet been fully disclosed. If patients need to know the latest prices or medication routes, it is recommended to directly consult the oncology department or pharmacy of a large tertiary hospital.

In overseas markets, the price of zotuximab has been relatively clear. Taking original drugs from Europe and Japan as an example, the common specifications are 100mg/ bottles, and each box sells for about 7,000 RMB. Given the volume of use in a standard-dose treatment cycle, patients may require multiple boxes of medication each month, so the cost of medication can escalate quickly with increasing doses. In addition, because the drug needs to be administered intravenously in a professional medical facility, there are additional costs of hospitalization or outpatient infusion to consider.

Based on the average course of treatment, if patients need to continue to use zotuximab on a monthly basis, they may consume approximately 4 to 6 bottles of the drug every month, which means that the monthly drug expenditure may range from 3 to 4.5 yuan. A rough estimate of the cost of treatment for one year12 months will be between 36 to 54 yuan. If combined with other treatments, such as combination chemotherapy or targeted therapy, the total cost of treatment will further increase.

Currently, there are no generic drugs of zotuximab on the market. Therefore, whether at home or abroad, patients can basically only rely on the original drug, which also results in relatively high treatment costs. For patients with limited financial conditions, they can focus on whether there are charitable assistance projects or clinical trial channels, thereby reducing the financial burden while ensuring the quality of medication. In the future, if generic drugs are launched or medical insurance inclusion policies are promoted, related treatment costs are expected to drop significantly.

Reference materials:https://www.astellas.com/en/news/29401