Can valumab be included in medical insurance in 2025 and what is the price?

Durvalumab/Durvalumab (durvalumab) has not been officially included in the National Medical Insurance Drug List in mainland China. This is closely related to its time to market, indication positioning, drug prices and progress in medical insurance negotiations. Durvalumab was developed by AstraZeneca. As a PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, it has shown significant effects in prolonging progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, and has been recommended as a standard treatment drug by guidelines in many countries. However, the admission assessment of China's medical insurance catalog not only needs to consider the efficacy and safety of drugs, but also needs to be comprehensively measured based on factors such as clinical needs, economic evaluation, and the affordability of medical insurance funds.

In recent years, with the continuous advancement of the national centralized drug procurement policy, more and more innovative anti-tumor drugs have entered medical insurance through negotiation, thus significantly reducing patients' medication burden. Taking similar PD-1/PD-L1 drugs such as nivolumab and pembrolizumab as examples, the price dropped significantly after negotiations, establishing a feasible path for the future inclusion of nivolumab in medical insurance. According to AstraZeneca’s public information, the company has been actively promoting negotiations and registration expansion related to medical insurance, trying to promote the medical insurance coverage process through reasonable pricing and clinical value demonstration. If the negotiations go smoothly, durvalumab is expected to be included in subsequent adjustments to the medical insurance catalog, especially in the urgently needed indication of consolidation therapy for patients with locally advanced inoperable NSCLC.

If patients are in urgent need of medication and are under great financial pressure, they can obtain partial cost reductions through the assistance program established by AstraZeneca or commercial medical insurance channels. It is recommended to consult the attending doctor and hospital social worker before treatment to understand the current possible support policies and subsidy channels. With the further liberalization of medical insurance policies and the continued prominence of the value of tumor immunotherapy, the medical insurance prospects of durvalumab are still widely optimistic in the industry.

Reference materials:https://www.imfinzi.com/