Is zotuximab already included in the scope of medical insurance reimbursement?

Zolbetuximab (zolbetuximab-clzb), trade name VYLOY, is a targeted monoclonal antibody drug recently approved for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction cancer. It mainly targets the Claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2) protein that is highly expressed in tumors. This target is rarely expressed in normal tissues but is highly expressed in some gastric cancer cells, making it an ideal target for targeted therapy. VYLOY was developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas and has been approved by regulatory authorities in the United States and other countries. It is used as one of the first-line combination treatment options for patients with HER2-negative and CLDN18.2-positive locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

As far as the Chinese market is concerned, although the original drug of zotuximab has been officially introduced, it has not yet been included in China's national medical insurance directory. This means that if patients need to use the drug, they need to bear the cost of treatment at their own expense. Since it has been on the market for a relatively short time, its specific market pricing has not yet been fully disclosed. Patients can obtain more accurate purchase and cost information at professional medical institutions or authorized pharmacies. In addition, in clinical use, this drug is usually used in combination with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based chemotherapy drugs to form a multi-drug combination treatment regimen. Therefore, the overall treatment cost may be higher, which is also an important factor that patients and doctors must weigh when choosing treatment options.

At present, whether zotuximab will be included in the medical insurance catalog will depend on its future clinical data accumulation, the size of the domestic user population, pharmacoeconomic evaluation results and policy guidance. Based on past experience, for new targeted drugs with clear survival benefits, especially in cancer types with unmet clinical treatment needs, once the drugs are on the market and included in guideline recommendations, their entry into medical insurance will usually be accelerated. But before that, patients should pay close attention to the relevant policy developments of the National Medical Insurance Administration and the drug regulatory authorities.

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