Interpretation of medical insurance reimbursement policy for Futibatinib

Futibatinib is an oral selective FGFR inhibitor, mainly used to treat previously treated, unresectable or metastatic intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA). This targeted drug has been approved overseas, especially in the United States and Europe, for patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma with FGFR2 fusion or rearrangement. However, at present, forbatinib has not been officially launched in the domestic market, and therefore has not been included in the national medical insurance directory. This means that domestic patients are temporarily unable to obtain the drug through medical insurance reimbursement through regular channels.

Because targeted drugs are expensive and usually require special approval or are obtained through clinical trials, medical insurance reimbursement policies are also highly dependent on the drug's marketing status in each country and the approval process for inclusion in the medical insurance catalog. In China, since forbatinib has not yet been officially approved for marketing, patients who wish to use the drug must obtain it through international pharmacies, clinical trials, or specific imported drug channels. These channels are usually more expensive and require strict prescription management. According to overseas drug market experience, the price of imported original drugs may reach tens of thousands of yuan per month, so medical insurance coverage is crucial to reducing patient burden, but this policy has yet to be clarified by domestic approval agencies.

In clinical practice, patients and family members are often concerned about"when will it be included in medical insurance in the future" and "the feasibility of cross-border purchase". Judging from overseas marketing experience, after a drug enters the market, if the clinical efficacy is significant and the safety is controllable, the relevant regulatory authorities will usually evaluate its economic value to decide whether to include it in the medical insurance catalog. Therefore, for fobatinib, as clinical data continues to accumulate, domestic medical insurance policies may gradually be clarified in the next few years, which will directly affect patient accessibility and treatment costs.

Reference materials:https://go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB15149