Nefecon Added to the 2023 New Reimbursement Drug List of Specialized Medicines

The “Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program” has added the imported capsule version of Nefecon (budesonide) to their 2023 National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL).

About Nefecon:

Nefecon is a budesonide tablet with a delayed release time that is taken orally. Budesonide is a corticosteroid with strong glucocorticoid function yet low mineralocorticoid activity that goes through a great deal of first-pass metabolism. When it comes to treating people with primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), Nefecon is a first-in-disease option.

For the treatment of proteinuria in people with IgAN at risk of fast disease development (defined as a urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPCR) of 1.5 g/g and above), expedited approval using the trademark “TARPEYO®” has been granted by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Patients will have easier access to Nefecon thanks to the Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program’s listing of the drug under the codename “TARPEYO.”

The Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Regulation and Supervision both oversee the Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program, which is an important part of Beijing’s comprehensive medical insurance network. More than six million individuals have registered for the program in the two years since it was first made available.

Beijing Puhui Health Insurance covers a hundred specialty medicines that are not included on the National Reimbursement Drug List as well as some imported drugs from abroad. These imported drugs include those that have recently been marketed in other countries as well as those that can only be given by recognized medical institutes in Boao Lecheng. One million Chinese yuan per year is the highest amount of coverage that is to be given to any individual. On May 5, 2023, the revised list that now contains Nefecon became active and was put into action.

Rogers Luo, the CEO of Everest Medicines, said, “The inclusion of Nefecon into the drug reimbursement list of the Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program enables patients insured in Beijing to receive reimbursement for up to 60% of the drug costs. This inclusion can help alleviate the financial burden for patients and improve patient adherence to the treatment.”

In April, Nefecon was made accessible for clinical usage in the Hainan division of Shanghai Ruijin Hospital. We anticipate that our request for marketing permission for Nefecon will gain approval on a nationwide level in the latter part of this year, he added. He also said that Nefecon has also been integrated into the insurance systems of other localities in China, such as Kunming City and Shanxi Province, in addition to Beijing. More patients in China suffering from IgAN are able to reap the benefits of this first-in-disease treatment thanks to diversified payment options, which satisfy large unmet medical requirements.

To further develop and promote Nefecon in Mainland China and other important countries, Everest Medicines, and Calliditas agreed to a special royalty-bearing licensing agreement in June 2019. Everest Medicine’s coverage area was expanded to encompass all of South Korea in March 2022 under the terms of the agreement extension.

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