New drugs for the rare disease myelofibrosis are having difficulty expanding coverage in Korea.

According to industry sources, after ‘Jakabi (ruxolitinib)’ failed to expand reimbursement in Korea in May, ‘Inrebic (pedratinib),’ the first new drug to be introduced to the field in one decade, also failed to pass the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service’s Cancer Disease Deliberation Committee review in June this year.

At the meeting, expanding reimbursement for Jakabi as a treatment for intermediate- or high-risk patients with myelofibrosis had been discussed. However, the applicant that applied for the reimbursement extension was the Korean Society of Hematology, not its sup