Japan Eyes Public Insurance for iPS Cell-Based Products

Tokyo, April 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Central Social Insurance Medical Council on Wednesday started to discuss extending the public health insurance coverage to two regenerative medicine products using induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells. The council, which advises the health minister, is expected to decide the official prices for the products as early as summer. The products will come into use for medical treatment after that. The products are Riheart by Cuorips Inc., a startup linked to the University of Osaka, and Amchepry by Sumitomo Pharma Co. Riheart is an iPS cell-derived cardiomyocyte sheet to treat patients with heart disease. The sheet will be patched on patients’ hearts to help recover their functions. Amchepry, a dopaminergic neural progenitor cell product for Parkinson’s disease, will develop into nerve cells after being transplanted into patients’ brains and help improve their motor function. In its examination to decide the official prices, the council will treat Riheart as a medical device and Amchepry as a medicine. In March, the health ministry gave conditional fixed-term approval to the two products. Products with such approvals can be sold on a temporary basis after the safety has been confirmed and the efficacy presumed. The ministry will gather further treatment data over the coming seven years and consider full-scale approval for the products. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]