Olumiant reimbursed for severe alopecia next month

MOHW revises reimbursement criteria…effective July 1

Baricitinib reimbursed for up to two years in adults with severe alopecia areata

Epilepsy treatments from 7 companies, including Chong Kun Dang and Daewoong, establish reimbursement criteria.

The government will establish new reimbursement criteria to cover treatments of severe alopecia areata in adults. In addition, reimbursement coverage for Korea's 37th domestically developed new drug, Zaquovo (zastaprazan), will be expanded to include the gastric ulcer indication.

On June 18, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) made an administrative notice regarding its proposed revisions to the "Detailed Standards for the Application and Methods of National Health Insurance Benefits." The revised standards are scheduled to take effect on July 1.

Reimbursment for Eil Lilly Korea’s JAK inhibitor Olumiant (baricitinib) will be expanded to cover adults with severe alopecia areata.

To qualify, patients must have received conventional therapies such as systemic corticosteroids or cyclosporine for at least three months without achieving a reduction of 30% or more in the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score, or must be unable to continue treatment due to adverse effects.

In addition, reimbursement will apply only to patients who either have a ▲SALT score of 50 or higher or a ▲SALT score between 20 and 50 accompanied by complete loss or clearly visible interruption of both eyebrows and eyelashes.

Meanwhile, Onconic Therapeutics' Zaquovo is expected to broaden its prescribing scope through reimbursement expansion for gastric ulcer treatment, following its existing coverage for erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

The expansion comes one year after the drug received regulatory approval for the gastric ulcer indication in June of last year. Among P-CAB therapies, Zaquovo became the second product to obtain a gastric ulcer indication in Korea.

In addition, 29 products including Chong Kun Dang's third-generation epilepsy treatment Briveta Tab (brivaracetam), will be newly listed for reimbursement next month. Notably, they will gain reimbursement coverage before UCB Korea’s original product, Briviact.

Epilepsy drugs from 7 pharmaceutical companies will be listed simultaneously, which includes Daewoong Pharmaceutical's Brivatop Tab, Bukwang Pharmaceutical's Brivafil Tab, Whanin Pharm’s Briva Tab, Samjin Pharmaceutical's Bricetam Tab, Myung In Pharm’s Buripam Tab, and Hyundai Pharm's Brilact Tab, in addition to Chong Kun Dang's Briveta Tab.

Patients whose seizures are not adequately controlled at the maximum dose of monotherapy or when dose escalation is limited by adverse effects may consider combination therapy with agents of different mechanisms. Up to four concomitant antiepileptic drugs will be reimbursed for patients with refractory epilepsy and similar conditions. Prescribers must submit a treatment justification report if more than four agents are used concurrently.

The reimbursement criteria for dry eye syndrome therapies will also be revised following the reimbursement listing of Cyspol Ophthalmic Solution from Unimed Pharm next month. Polyethylene glycol 400 plus propylene glycol has been added to the list of tear substitute agents among single-use artificial tear products.

In addition, reimbursement rules for long-term prescribing of GSK Korea's severe asthma drug Nucala (mepolizumab) and the Nucala Autoinjector will be tightened to align with standards applied to other biologic therapies. Following hospital discharge, outpatient prescriptions will be limited to a maximum of 4 weeks. For patients who remain free of adverse effects after 6 months of treatment, the reimbursable long-term prescription period will be reduced to a maximum of 8–12 weeks, approximately half of the previous allowance.