NCI director issues warning on cell therapy reimbursement

Development of future cancer cell therapies is at risk because problems with the current payment and reimbursement schemes remain unsolved, National Cancer Institute Director Ned Sharpless told me today in an interview. It’s a problem that worries him.

“There are so many great ideas, novel agents, but how are these things going to be developed, given that payer issues are so complex? I don’t care about payer issues, that’s a CMS problem, except when it limits innovation in cancer science. I think we’re there.

"I know of a number of programs where there are very promising Phase 1 or early Phase 2 trial data, but going forward with much larger studies is something that the industry and payers are nervous about. They are seeing the reimbursement troubles we are having with CD-19 [CAR-T products like Yescarta and Kymriah] and they’re wondering if there is a market there.”