Global pharmaceutical companies are launching new blood cancer drugs in Korea one after another, but the situation on site is impeding their access.

According to industry sources on the 17th, the the medical school admission expansion policy last year has led to a continued mass resignation of residents, which has disrupted the treatment of blood cancer at university hospitals.

# The blood cancer treatment environment in Korea has been improving with an increasing number of “weapons” that medical staff can use due to the recent domestic approval and coverage of various treatments.

From CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T cell) therapy to bispecific antibody therapy, various options are being introduced into clinical settings in Korea, expanding their use.

If we were to choose a therapy that has been applied to clinical settings in Korea, the representative example is Novartis' Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), which has been reimbursed by the National Health Insurance Service as a CAR-T therapy.

In addition, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved Jassen Korea’s Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), Gilead Sciences Korea’s Yescarta (exicabtagene ciloleucel) and the new domestic drug, Curocell’s Limkato (Anbasel) is awaiting approval in Korea.

Also, when looking at bispecific antibody treatments with indications for blood cancers, ▲ Roche's Lunsumio (mosunetuzumab), Columvi (glofitamab) ▲ Janssen's Rybrevant (amivantamab), Tecvayli (teclistamab), Talvey (talquetamab) ▲AbbVie’s Epkinly (epcoritimabab) ▲Pfizer’s Elerexfio (elranatamab), etc.

All seven treatments have been approved in Korea and are currently being tried for reimbursement.

In fact, Roche's Columvi, AbbVie's Epkinly, and Janssen's Tecvayli all attempted to pass the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service's Cancer Disease Deliberation Committee, the first hurdle to reimbursement. Pfizer's Elerexfio was also submitted to the first Cancer Disease Deliberation Committee for deliberation this year and discussed the need to set reimbursement standards.

All of these treatments failed to set reimbursement standards at the time, but depending on whether they are further challenged in the future, they are expected to be covered by insurance within the year.

As a result, the expectations of patients for such treatment have greatly increased as the range of treatments has expanded beyond hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

However, due to the medical crisis that broke out last year, some university hospitals are still unable to accept new patients in the field of blood cancer.

In the case of blood cancer, treatment is mainly provided at certain university hospitals, but these hospitals are not accepting new patients, causing a situation in which patients are flocking to other hospitals.

Even hospitals where the patients flock are saying that they may no longer be able to accept new patients due to the lack of residents.

A professor of hematology at a university hospital who requested anonymity said, “Some of the major university hospitals in Seoul are also unable to accept new patients in the field of hematological cancer,” and pointed out the problem, saying, “Even in northeastern Seoul, there is only one hospital that provides treatment for hematological cancer.”

He added, “The situation is the same nationwide. People from Gangwon-do, Chungcheong-do, and even Gyeongsang-do province have no choice but to go to the capital region for treatment of blood cancer, but these hospitals are not accepting new patients.” He also complained, “Even hospitals that accept new patients are having difficulty coping with the constant influx of patients due to the lack of resident doctors. We cannot continue to endure the situation any longer.”