Charity program streamlines drug acquisition

A charity program initiated by China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, with support from AstraZeneca and FibroGen, was officially launched in Beijing on Sunday, aiming to increase the accessibility of innovative drugs to Chinese anemia patients.

The program will provide free Roxadustat capsules, the world's first-in-class new drug for the treatment of anemia caused by chronic kidney disease in patients who are dialysis-dependent, a major breakthrough for 30 years in the treatment of anemia.

The drug is developed globally, but was first incubated and approved in China. It was approved by China's National Medical Products Administration in December 2018 as a Class-1 new drug under fast-track evaluation. So far, the drug has not been launched in any other country.

The Roxadustat donation program plans to cover 30,000 CKD patients with anemia who are dialysis-dependent. Online application and appointment will start in May, and the program will be gradually rolled out nationwide.

Based on an assessment conducted by the program's medical experts, all patients considered eligible and suitable for the drug can go to designated nearby locations to get the drug free.

Anemia is a common complication of CKD, especially in patients with end-stage renal disease. In China, CKD is one of the most common major chronic diseases.

Despite a lack of current national figures, a report published in 2012 in internationally reputed medical journal Lancet showed on average one out of every 10 Chinese adults has CKD, and another report in 2013 published on Chinese Journal of Nephrology said anemia is a common complication of CKD, and among patients with the end-stage renal disease, the incidence of anemia is as high as 98.2 percent.