Anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, produced by Suzhou Pharmaceutical Enterprise and first developed by China, was put into operation on Dec. 17, 2018 after it was approved for sale under the trade name "Tuo Yi". The price of the drug was officially announced on January 8, 7200 yuan (240 mg) per tablet, the lowest in the world. It is expected to be available in the market by the end of February at the earliest.
"Tuo Yi" is a kind of bio-innovation medicine developed by Suzhou Zhonghe Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., which has complete independent intellectual property right. Compared with traditional chemotherapy and targeted therapy, Tuo Yi uses immunotherapy, which can be used to treat local progression or metastatic melanoma after the failure of previous standard treatment.
At present, there are two kinds of imported PD-1 monoclonal antibody in China market, which’re Keytruda, Pembrolizumab solution for injection and Opdivo, Nivolumab injection respectively, commonly known as "K" medicine and "O” medicine. Also for melanoma indications, the "K" medicine has the retail price of 17,918 yuan (100 milligrams) per unit (179 yuan/mg). The price of domestic medicine "Tuo Yi" is 7200 Yuan, 30 Yuan / mg. Take 60kg patients for example, the annual cost of "K" medicine treatment is 600000 yuan, while the cost of "Tuo Yi" 187200 yuan. The cost of home-made drugs is less than one-third of the cost of imported drugs.
It is also understood that the Beijing Bethune Public Welfare Foundation launched the " Bethune Tuo Yi Public Welfare Donation Project" across the whole country to provide drug assistance to patients with melanoma who have financial difficulties receiving sustained and effective treatment. Four cycles of pharmaceutical assistance will follow the use of drugs of four cycles. A preliminary estimate of about 93,600 yuan a year is required if the patient participates in the program for one year or more.
