DuChemBio's 'Prostasic,' a Prostate Cancer PSMA PET-CT Agent, Covered by Health Insurance

[Financial News] Health insurance coverage will be applied to PET-CT scans for 'Prostasic,' a radiopharmaceutical developed by the radiopharmaceutical company DuChemBio for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
DuChemBio announced on the 2nd that, in accordance with the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW)'s notification on insurance coverage for PET-CT procedures, health insurance coverage criteria will apply to examinations using Prostasic starting September 1. This comes approximately 11 months after passing the evaluation by HIRA last October.
Coverage applies to prostate cancer patients with a moderate or greater risk of metastasis who are suspected of having metastases before surgery or radiation therapy, or who are suspected of recurrence due to elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels after treatment. As a result, patients' testing costs are also expected to decrease.
Prostasic is a PET diagnostic radiopharmaceutical that targets PSMA, a protein found in large amounts in prostate cancer cells. In a Phase 3 clinical trial involving 391 participants, the lesion detection rate in patients with early recurrence and PSA levels below 0.5 ng/mL was 64%. This is higher than the approximately 20% rate observed with conventional MRI or CT.
According to the National Cancer Registry Statistics, the number of new prostate cancer patients in Korea in 2023 was 22,640. As the number of patients increases along with the aging population, demand for diagnosis to accurately determine the disease stage and assess recurrence is also rising.
"We expect that insurance coverage will improve access to diagnosis for patients who had delayed testing because of the cost burden," said Kim Sang-woo, CEO of DuChemBio. "We anticipate that demand for PSMA PET scans will increase along with the expansion of the prostate cancer treatment market."
Following its GMP manufacturing facilities in the Seoul metropolitan area and Busan, DuChemBio completed the establishment of a supply chain last August that includes tertiary general hospitals in the Yeongnam and Jeolla regions. The company plans to supply Prostasic reliably to medical institutions nationwide in response to increased demand resulting from insurance coverage.

[email protected] Jeong Sang-hee Reporter