Is bimetinib/bemetinib currently included in medical insurance?

Binimetinib/Binimetinib is currently not included in China’s national medical insurance directory. The main reason why it is not covered by medical insurance is that the drug has not yet been officially approved for marketing in mainland China, and therefore cannot enter the medical insurance negotiation or application process. According to the update mechanism of China's medical insurance catalog, the prerequisite for a drug to be included in the medical insurance is to complete the registration and approval from the State Food and Drug Administration, obtain a drug marketing license, and have clear indications and clinical application paths in the country.

Currently, bimetinib is mainly marketed in Europe and the United States and other countries. It is used to treat unresectable or metastatic melanoma carrying BRAF V600E mutation. It is often used in combination with dabrafenib. This treatment plan has relatively mature application evidence and clinical approval in overseas guidelines. However, because its use requires precise genetic testing and individualized diagnosis and treatment, the overall medical process is relatively complex, and it also places high demands on medical resources and technology.

Since the original drug bimetinib has not yet been introduced in China, there is no official domestic price or market retail price for reference. At present, some patients choose to obtain bimetinib through overseas medical channels or overseas purchasing platforms. Its price is affected by the place of origin, specifications, exchange rates and channel fees. It generally ranges from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan per box, which imposes a heavy financial burden. Therefore, even though it is widely used clinically abroad, due to the lack of medical insurance support, the threshold for use by domestic patients is high and clinical accessibility is not strong.

Medical insurance coverage is an important factor affecting the utilization and affordability of tumor-targeted drugs. With the improvement of the domestic precision medicine system and the increase in the approval speed of imported innovative drugs, bimetinib is expected to obtain marketing authorization in China in the future and apply for medical insurance negotiations at the appropriate time. However, before that, patients still need to rely on genetic test results and evaluate their financial ability, and then combined with the opinions of their doctors to decide whether to choose a cross-border drug regimen.

Reference materials:https://go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB11967