Will Opdivo soon be reimb as first-line gastric cancer Tx?

Listed as a drug that completed NHIS drug pricing negotiations

Whether Ono Pharmaceutical Korea’s ‘Opdivo Inj’ will receive reimbursement as the first first-line immunotherapy option for gastric cancer is gaining attention.

 

If the drug is reimbursed as a first-line treatment for gastric cancer, Opdivo Inj may closely chase the sales of Keytruda, which had expanded coverage as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer in the immuno-oncology drug market.

 

Three doses of Opdivo Inj were included in the updated list of drugs for which drug price negotiations were recently completed by the National Health Insurance Service.

 

The list contains all the drugs that have completed pricing negotiations by the 10th of this month.

 

After being recognized for the adequacy of reimbursement as a first-line treatment for gastric cancer by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in May, the company has been negotiating the insurance drug price with the NHIS.

 

Its reimbursement standards had been established in June last year by HIRA’s Cancer Disease Deliberation Committee (CDDC).

 

The CDDC set the drug eligible for reimbursement as first-line treatment in combination with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy for advanced or metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma.

 

The analysis is that if the negotiations are complete, Opdivo will likely be listed for reimbursement soon after reporting to the Health Insurance Policy Deliberative Committee.

 

In particular, HER2-negative gastric cancer, which Opdivo targets, accounts for nearly 90% of all patients.

 

Therefore, the reimbursement expansion is expected to increase its sales greatly.

 

Currently, Opdivo is reimbursed as monotherapy for 4 indications: as first-line and later lines of monotherapy for melanoma, as second-line and later lines of monotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer, as third-line or later lines of monotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma, and as second-line or later lines of monotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

 

Also, the drug is reimbursed in combination with Yervoy as a first-line treatment for renal cell carcinoma.

 

Last year, Opdivo’s sales based on IQVIA sales was KRW 109.9 billion.

 

Among immuno-oncology drugs, Opdivo recorded the second-highest performance after Keytruda (KRW 239.5 billion).

 

Keytruda's sales have improved significantly compared to other immuno-oncology drugs after being granted reimbursement extensions as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer in March last year.

 

If Opdivo also is granted a reimbursement extension as a first-line treatment for gastric cancer, it may also enjoy as explosive sales growth comparable to Keytruda.