Newsfrom Japan Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)--An expert panel of Japan's health ministry on Wednesday expressed its approval of the production and sales of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell cancer therapy. The health minister is expected to give the final approval in the near future. This will be followed by the process to fix its price under the country's public health insurance system. The CAR T-cell therapy is likely to join the list of drugs and treatments covered by the system as early as May, according to informed sources. In the therapy, T-cells, a type of immune system cells, are taken out of a cancer patient and put back in after being genetically modified to attack cancer cells. The Japanese government approval will be given to the Kymriah therapy developed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Following the recommendation of an expert panel in Japan's health ministry, the health minister will likely give his approval for the first CAR-T therapy in the country. Kymriah' Novartis therapy, which has already received approvals in other countries, will be the beneficiary of the recommendation. The next step will be the process of pricing the therapy under the public health insurance system.