Chugai sales and marketing update
Chugai launched Kadcyla trastuzumab emtansine in Japan to treat inoperable or recurrent HER2-positive breast cancer. Japan's National Health Insurance (NHI) price is ¥235,108 ($2,304.06) for the 100 mg vial and ¥373,945 ($3,664.66) for the 160 mg vial. The initial dose is 3.6 mg/kg IV Kadcyla every three weeks. Last November, Chugai postponed the price listing of Kadcyla on the NHI reimbursement list after the company and Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) could not agree on the "medical value" of the breast cancer drug (see BioCentury, Nov. 18, 2013).
Chugai, which is majority owned by Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY, Basel, Switzerland), has Japanese rights to the humanized mAb against epidermal growth factor receptor 2 ( EGFR2; HER2) linked to a DM1 cytotoxic agent from ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ:IMGN, Waltham, Mass.). The Genentech Inc. unit of Roche has rights to use ImmunoGen's TAP antibody-conjugate technology under a 2000 deal. ...