More than 400 cancer patients are set to benefit from Hong Kong health authorities’ decision to subsidise a leukaemia drug, and will go from paying up to HK$500,000 (US$63,800) a year for treatment to forking out just HK$240.
The Hospital Authority said on Wednesday that it began subsidising the medication, Dasatinib, in April, with the government expected to set aside an additional HK$49 million in annual spending to help cover the cost.
As part of the move, Dasatinib was reclassified from a “self-financed item” to a “special drug” in the authority’s medication database.
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This means patients can buy it at a subsidised cost, regardless of their financial status, as long as they meet the relevant clinical criteria.
The authority also announced that more Hong Kong residents could now qualify for a drug subsidy fund, following a relaxation of its means-tested criteria based on patients’ salaries and assets.
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Discussing the reclassification of Dasatinib, William Chui Chun-ming, the authority’s chief pharmacist, said the decision was due to the medication being positioned as a second-line treatment for leukaemia under international guidelines.