A 1.29-million-yuan CAR-T cancer therapy enters China's basic medical insurance for the first time

A cancer cell therapy listed at 1.29 million yuan (about $180,000) per dose will be covered by China's basic medical insurance from Jan. 1. On Nov. 14, China's National Healthcare Security Administration and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released the new national reimbursement drug list at an innovative-drug conference in Suzhou. JW Therapeutics' relmacabtagene autoleucel, sold as Carteyva, became the first CAR-T therapy ever admitted to the basic insurance list.

CAR-T therapy takes a patient's own T cells, genetically reprograms them and infuses them back to attack cancer; this product treats lymphoma. Yicai reported that 10 CAR-T products had been approved in China by early November, mostly priced between 900,000 and 1.3 million yuan. Earlier attempts to get them into national price negotiations failed because the prices were too high, so patients paid in full or relied on commercial insurance.

This year's list adds 107 drugs, a record 51 of them Class 1 innovative drugs, removes 34 and brings the total to 3,331. CAR-T got in through a new channel. In 2025 the regulator created its first commercial health insurance list for innovative drugs, covering 19 products including five CAR-T therapies, and this year drugs on that list were allowed to apply for the basic list. Yicai counted at least seven products from that first commercial list, including two domestic CAR-T therapies, that entered negotiations; Carteyva and sapropterin dihydrochloride tablets for hyperphenylalaninemia made it through. Industry estimates put patients' out-of-pocket cost after reimbursement below 100,000 yuan (about $14,000), less than a tenth of the list price, and Yicai cited estimates that the insurance payment price may fall below 300,000 yuan per dose.

The design works like a two-step staircase. A new drug first enters the commercial list, where private insurers and city-level "Huiminbao" plans share the cost and hospitals start using it. After a year of real-world use, it can negotiate for the basic list. It is like a pricey new dish that is first trialed in a few restaurants until its reputation and costs are clear, then added to the chain's regular menu. JW Therapeutics said that by the end of 2025 Carteyva was covered by Huiminbao plans in 105 cities and nearly 100 commercial health policies.

The United States took a different route. Medicare issued a national coverage determination for CAR-T in 2019, but U.S. list prices for comparable products are mostly above $300,000 per treatment, and private insurers set their own conditions. What changes in China is that a million-yuan cell therapy enters basic insurance at a single nationally negotiated price for the first time. The new list takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, and JW Therapeutics said coverage should help CAR-T become a more routine part of treatment decisions and patient referrals. The other domestic CAR-T in the talks did not make the switch, and the remaining CAR-T products stay on the commercial list. Getting hospitals to stock the drug is the next hurdle: four government departments recently told provincial and prefecture-level hospitals to add Class 1 innovative drugs from both lists to their formularies and barred localities from using regional lists to shut out products from elsewhere.

Original publication time: National Healthcare Security Administration, Nov. 14, 2026 (Beijing); Yicai, Nov. 14, 2026 14:04 Beijing / Nov. 14, 2026 01:04 EST; IT Home, Nov. 14, 2026 14:46 Beijing / Nov. 14, 2026 01:46 EST; Caijing, Nov. 14, 2026 (Beijing)