Japan OKs 1st iPS Regenerative Medicine for Insurance Coverage

Tokyo, May 13 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese health ministry council on Wednesday approved the public health insurance coverage for a regenerative medicine for Parkinson's disease produced from induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells, effective from May 20.

With the approval by the Central Social Insurance Medical Council, which advises the health minister, Amchepry from Japan's Sumitomo Pharma Co. will become the country's first iPS cell-based regenerative medicine eligible for health insurance coverage.

Amchepry, a dopaminergic neural progenitor cell product, is aimed at helping improve motor action through its transplant into patients' brains.

In March, the ministry gave conditional and time-limited approval for the production and sale of Amchepry and RiHeart, a cardiomyocyte sheet from Japanese startup Cuorips Inc., linked to the University of Osaka, as the first iPS cell-based regenerative medicine products in the world.

Health insurance coverage for RiHeart is expected to be approved this summer.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]