China has added a CAR-T cancer therapy once priced at more than 1 million yuan to its national basic medical insurance drug list, a move aimed at easing patients' financial burdens and strengthening support for pharmaceutical innovation.
The country unveiled the 2026 list at a conference on the high-quality development of innovative drugs in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, alongside an updated commercial health insurance innovative drug list. Both will take effect on Jan 1, 2027.
Zhang Ke, head of the National Healthcare Security Administration, said at the conference that China had established a mechanism this year to link the two lists, opening up more pathways for innovative medicines to reach patients.
Two medicines previously on the commercial insurance list have been included in this year's basic medical insurance list, he said. They will continue to benefit for a certain period from policy exemptions intended to facilitate their use in hospitals.
Among them is JW Therapeutics' relmacabtagene autoleucel injection, marketed as Carteyva, which entered the inaugural commercial health insurance innovative drug list last year, according to the company.
JW Therapeutics said Carteyva was the only CAR-T product added to the basic medical insurance list in this year's update.
The treatment is used for adults with certain types of lymphoma that have relapsed or failed to respond to earlier treatment, according to an earlier company statement.
CAR-T, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, involves modifying a patient's own immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. Each treatment requires individualized manufacturing, with high production costs posing a major barrier to wider access, the company said.
The latest inclusion follows several years of efforts to secure reimbursement. Approved in China in September 2021, Carteyva was previously priced at 1.29 million yuan per dose. It passed preliminary reviews for inclusion in the national reimbursement list in 2022 and 2023 but did not advance to price negotiations.
Technological advances have since laid the groundwork for reducing manufacturing costs, said Tian Feng, chairman and chief executive officer of JW Therapeutics.
Speaking at the conference, Tian said lentiviral vectors, a key material used in CAR-T production, had long been largely sourced from overseas. The company has achieved breakthroughs through its own research and development, addressing technical challenges in high-quality production at scale, he said.
"Inclusion in basic medical insurance marks a new starting point for JW Therapeutics to benefit more patients and opens up greater scope for continued innovation," Tian said.
He added that the company would continue developing next-generation CAR-T therapies to benefit more patients.
The broader adjustment added 107 medicines to the basic medical insurance list, including a record 51 Category 1 innovative drugs, according to the administration. The additions cover cancer, rare diseases, chronic illnesses and mental disorders, bringing the total to 3,331.
Meanwhile, the commercial health insurance innovative drug list added 12 medicines, bringing its total to 28. The additions include cell and gene therapies, further expanding payment options for advanced treatments, the administration said.
