Targeted drug for lung cancer patients approved for subsidy

2011/06/09 17:52:18 The Central News Agency Taipei, June 9 (CNA) The Taiwan Lung Cancer Society applauded the government's recent decision to subsidize targeted therapy for patients suffering from certain types of lung cancer. A press conference was held after the Bureau of National Health Insurance announced that pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients with the EGFR gene mutations or metastasis can qualify for a subsidy for the drug gefitinib beginning this June. Gefitinib is a drug used in the treatment of certain types of cancer. The Taiwan Lung Cancer Society (TLCS) said the move is expected to benefit an estimated 2,500 local patients per year. "More and more people are suffering from lung cancer in Taiwan, and the launch of the subsidy program is welcoming news, " said Yang Pan-chyr, the Dean of National Taiwan University's College of Medicine. Perng Reury-perng, a TLCS member and a doctor at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said that gefitinib, when compared with chemotherapy, was proven more effective in treating pulmonary adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer among Taiwanese people. About 44 percent of the lung cancer cases in the country are pulmonary adenocarcinoma, Perng said. Gefitinib comes in a tablet form and has very few side effects, he said, allowing patients to lead a normal social life and extend their life expectancy. Without government subsidy, the average patient would have to pay about NT$1 million (US$ 31,250) per year for gefitinib treatment. In Taiwan, lung cancer was the leading type of cancer for women, and the second most common form of cancer among men, in 2009. That year, the disease claimed 7,951 lives.