Sichuan News, February 3 (Wang Peng, Wang Haina) "It took less than half a year for an innovative drug for rare diseases to be approved for marketing and included in the medical insurance. Recently, Professor Zhou Hongyu, chief physician of the Department of Neurology of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, said in an interview.
As a rare disease among neuroimmune diseases, generalized myasthenia gravis is a chronic, autoimmune neuromuscular disease caused by dysfunction of neuromuscular junction transmission, which is characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue, and the course of the disease is long, difficult, and easy. It is estimated that there are about 170,000 patients with generalized myasthenia gravis in China. As early as 2018, generalized myasthenia gravis was included in the "First Batch of Rare Disease Catalog" jointly issued by five national ministries and commissions.
Generalized myasthenia gravis can affect the patient's eye movement, swallowing, speech, limb movement and respiratory function to varying degrees, resulting in obvious muscle weakness, seriously impairing the patient's mobility and quality of life, seriously affecting the patient's daily life and work, bringing a heavy burden to the family and society, and many patients will also suffer from depression and other psychological diseases. If muscle weakness worsens, involving respiratory muscles can cause a myasthenic crisis, which can be life-threatening if not treated in a timely manner.
Professor Zhou Hongyu introduced that for a long time, patients with generalized myasthenia gravis have mainly relied on expert experience and traditional regimens, including cholinesterase inhibitors, glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants, intravenous immunoglobulin, plasma exchange and thymectomy. However, due to the obvious deficiencies of traditional methods in symptom control and other aspects, it is very difficult to achieve the goal of "double standard" myasthenia gravis. Professor Zhou Hongyu emphasized, "The ideal goal of myasthenia gravis is to achieve a 'double standard' state where the symptoms of the disease and the disease are minimized. ”
Professor Zhou Hongyu said that as a breakthrough innovative drug in the field of myasthenia gravis in China, agamod has a unique mechanism of action, which can remove pathogenic immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in the body, and has little impact on non-IgG immunoglobulins, and has outstanding characteristics in terms of onset time, efficacy, and safety, and is expected to achieve disease remission and symptom control for patients, and achieve the ideal state of "double standard" with the minimization of disease symptoms and disease control, so as to achieve peaceful coexistence with the disease.
The reporter learned that at present, this innovative drug for rare diseases has been included in the Sichuan Province Single Payment Management Drug Catalog, and the "dual channel" management is implemented, and patients can implement the medical insurance reimbursement policy in the two channels of medical insurance designated medical institutions and medical insurance designated retail pharmacies. Before being included in the medical insurance catalog, calculated according to 5 cycles a year, the annual cost of using agamod for patients with generalized myasthenia gravis was about 400,000 yuan; After being included in the medical insurance, the reimbursement ratio of local patients in Chengdu ranges from 60% to 75%, and according to the 5 ** cycles a year, patients who meet the reimbursement conditions will have a minimum of more than 50,000 yuan in personal out-of-pocket expenses after the medical insurance reimbursement.
The standard and level of myasthenia gravis in China are expected to be further improved, especially from the long-term perspective, the quality of life and long-term level of myasthenia gravis in more patients will be changed. Professor Zhou Hongyu said. (ENDS).