Recently, the State Medical Security Bureau and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released a new edition of the Catalogue of Pharmaceuticals for National Basic Medical Insurance, Industrial Injury Insurance and Reproductive Insurance (hereinafter referred to as the Catalogue of Pharmaceuticals), which has been put into effect since January 1, 2020. This catalogue adds 148 new drug varieties, covering the priority of national essential drugs, cancer and rare diseases and other major disease treatment drugs, drugs for chronic diseases, medicines for children and so on. Among them, Novartis Tumor and Blood Disease Innovative Drug Eltrombopag Ethanolamine Tablets were included in Class B "Drug List" for the treatment of chronic primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), to help patients reduce their financial burden.
Alexandre Gibim, Novartis Tumor (China), said: "As a pharmaceutical company based on R&D and innovation, Novartis has always been committed to exploring more innovative and valuable innovative therapies and introducing them into China for the benefit of Chinese patients in line with the concept of patient-oriented. This is our long-term commitment to China. Promise. At the same time, we have been actively working with the Chinese government to improve the availability of drugs and help more patients in distress to use affordable innovative drugs as early as possible. It is believed that Eltrombopag will also bring long-term benefits to the improvement of the quality of life of more ITP patients when it enters the National Medical Insurance Catalogue.
Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), also known as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, is a common acquired autoimmune hemorrhagic disease, accounting for about one third of the total number of hemorrhagic diseases, mainly due to increased platelet destruction and reduced platelet production caused by abnormal immune function in the body. According to statistics, the incidence of ITP among adults in China is 5-10/100,000, [1] more than 60 years old, women of childbearing age and children groups [2]. Because of the reduction of platelets in ITP patients, it is very easy to cause symptoms such as skin and mucosal hemorrhage, intracranial hemorrhage, massive gastrointestinal bleeding, and death in severe cases. Therefore, ITP is also a "fatal" disease.
However, in the treatment of ITP, clinical and patients still face challenges. Professor Hou Ming, Vice-Chairman of the Hematology Medical Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and member of the ITP International Working Group, pointed out that: "Traditional first-line treatment methods such as glucocorticoids and gamma globulin can achieve the goal of platelet elevation in patients'initial treatment, but in the long run, the side effects caused by them are obvious." It may outweigh clinical benefits. In addition, the vast majority of ITP patients will develop into chronic, need long-term maintenance treatment, accompanied by the economic burden is becoming increasingly prominent, many patients have been interrupted because of economic pressure, resulting in repeated illness.