MSD Korea said that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has granted insurance benefits to Prevymis (ingredient: letermovir), which prevents cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections and diseases.

The targeted patients are the CMV-seropositive adults who have received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The drug can be administered to these patients 28 days from the day or after the transplant and can be applied up to 100 days.

MSD Korea’s Prevymis for preventing cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections and diseases began to receive insurance benefits Tuesday. (MSD)

CMV infection occurring after allogeneic HSCT can cause severe diseases such as pneumonia, hepatitis, gastritis, and encephalitis that threaten patients’ lives. Prevymis inhibits CMV deoxyribonucleic acid terminase complex needed for CMV replication and prevents viral reactivation.

The company confirmed that Prevymis significantly reduced CMV infection and disease incidences compared to the placebo group at 24 weeks after allogeneic HSCT. Prevymis group also showed a significantly lowered patients’ mortality rate up to 24 weeks after the transplant.

However, Prevymis did now show a difference in the incidence of adverse reactions related to bone marrow toxicity and nephrotoxicity compared to the placebo group. The dose adjustment was unnecessary in patients with mild or moderate liver or renal disease.

Prevymis has been selected as an innovative treatment in the U.S., Japan and Taiwan, as it effectively prevents CMV infection and disease with low adverse reactions.

The U.S. National Comprehensive Cancer Network and European Conference on Infections on Leukemia also recommend Prevymis as primary therapy for preventing CMV infection.

“We have been trying to improve accessibility and supply of Prevymis in Korea to reduce the risk of CMV infection and disease in patients who underwent allogeneic HSCT,” said Lee Sun-hee, MSD Korea’s executive director for the Specialty Division. “We hope the survival rate of patients who received the transplant in Korea to increase and lessen the burden of CMV infection and disease with the insurance benefit.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Prevymis in November 2011, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety did so in 2018.

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