By
Posted on
Japan, Tokyo – The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is set to approve in March the production and sales of a revolutionary new cancer immunotherapy drug, which is designed to strengthen patients’ immune cells.
A subcommittee of the ministry’s Pharmaceutical Affairs and Food Sanitation Council (PAFSC) has agreed to approve the drug, which will be used for the types of leukemia and lymphocyte tumors that are difficult to cure, at a meeting on Feb. 20. The drug is expected to be the new core for cancer treatment.
Moreover, the PAFSC subcommittee also endorsed a drug for critical limb ischemia, an illness that could lead to amputation. Both drugs use gene therapy technology.
The health minister will give the final OK to the production and sales of these pharmaceutical products, and public health insurance will apply to the drugs beginning as early as this coming summer.
The new immunotherapy drug is called “Kymriah” and is to be sold by Novartis Pharma, the Japanese wing of the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis International AG. The pharmaceutical product is aimed at curing B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
Source and full English article: The Mainichi
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190221/p2a/00m/0na/013000c
#CancerDrug #Japan #Tokyo #Kymriah #NovartisPharma #EnglishNews #GoJapan
