Yun Jieun, Chang Youngs, Jo Minsol, Heo Yerin, Kim Dong-Sook
Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Cheongju University, Cheongju, Korea.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
J Korean Med Sci. 2025 Feb 10;40(5):e16. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2025.40.e16.
This study investigated trends in national expenditures on anticancer and immunomodulating agents from 2013 to 2022.
Information was obtained from the National Health Insurance claims data spanning a period of 10 years, from 2013 to 2022. The subjects of this study are patients diagnosed with cancer who used anticancer agents between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2022. Trends were examined across various categories, including sex, age groups, routes of healthcare use, and types of healthcare institutions. We calculated the compound annual growth rate in both the number of patients and expenditures by year.
In 2013, pharmaceutical expenditures amounted to USD 11,984 million, representing 25.5% of the total healthcare expenditures, which were USD 46,984 million. Within this pharmaceutical expenditure, anticancer medications constituted USD 584 million, or 4.9%. By 2022, pharmaceutical expenditures had risen to USD 22,093 million, accounting for 22.8% of the total healthcare expenditures of USD 96,904 million. Of this amount, USD 1,566 million was allocated to anticancer drugs, which represented 7.1% of the total pharmaceutical expenditures. Between 2013 and 2022, total healthcare expenditures experienced a significant increase of 106.2%, reaching USD 49,920 million. Concurrently, pharmaceutical expenditures rose by 91.1% to USD 10,919 million, while expenditures on anticancer drugs surged by 168.2% to USD 982 million. In 2022, the category with the highest expenditures was ATC L01FF, which includes programmed cell death protein 1/death ligand 1 inhibitors such as nivolumab, totaling USD 266.2 million. This was followed by L01FD at USD 198.8 million and L01EA at USD 140.4 million. Since 2018, however, spending on immune checkpoint blockers targeting cell death proteins or ligands has continued to rise and currently ranks first.
The number of patients using anticancer drugs and the associated drug expenditures have risen between 2013 and 2022. As the share of anticancer drugs in total drug expenditures grows, so too do the overall expenditures. This escalating financial burden highlights the necessity for policymakers to thoroughly understand the appropriate and cost-effective usage of anticancer drugs, as it directly influences the affordability and accessibility of healthcare services.
本研究调查了2013年至2022年国家在抗癌和免疫调节药物方面的支出趋势。
从2013年至2022年这10年期间的国民健康保险理赔数据中获取信息。本研究的对象是在2013年1月1日至2022年12月31日期间使用抗癌药物的癌症确诊患者。对不同类别进行了趋势分析，包括性别、年龄组、医疗使用途径和医疗机构类型。我们计算了每年患者数量和支出的复合年增长率。
2013年，药品支出达119.84亿美元，占医疗总支出469.84亿美元的25.5%。在这笔药品支出中，抗癌药物为5.84亿美元，占4.9%。到2022年，药品支出增至220.93亿美元，占医疗总支出969.04亿美元的22.8%。其中，15.66亿美元用于抗癌药物，占药品总支出的7.1%。2013年至2022年期间，医疗总支出显著增长106.2%，达到499.2亿美元。同时，药品支出增长91.1%，达到109.19亿美元，而抗癌药物支出飙升168.2%，达到9.82亿美元。2022年，支出最高的类别是ATC L01FF，其中包括纳武单抗等程序性细胞死亡蛋白1/死亡配体1抑制剂，总计2.662亿美元。其次是L01FD，为1.988亿美元，L01EA为1.404亿美元。然而，自2018年以来，针对细胞死亡蛋白或配体的免疫检查点阻断剂支出持续上升，目前位居首位。
2013年至2022年期间，使用抗癌药物的患者数量和相关药物支出有所增加。随着抗癌药物在药品总支出中所占份额的增加，总体支出也随之增加。这种不断增加的经济负担凸显了政策制定者彻底了解抗癌药物合理且具成本效益使用方式的必要性，因为这直接影响医疗服务的可承受性和可及性。
