Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong Visits Site of South Korea’s First Advanced Regenerative Medicine Treatment, Encourages Patient

Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong visited the site where South Korea’s first approved advanced regenerative medicine treatment is being administered to a patient and offered encouragement to the patient and medical staff.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Jeong visited Catholic University of Korea Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital at 3 p.m. on the 22nd to review progress on the treatment and inspect related facilities and operations.

The visit followed the introduction of the advanced regenerative medicine treatment system and the first administration of the country’s first approved treatment to a patient.

The treatment is intended for patients with EBV-positive extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma who are in complete remission after chemotherapy but face a high risk of recurrence. It uses immune cells derived from the patient and specific to EBV antigens to prevent recurrence and promote long-term survival.

Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital is the treatment provider, with hematologist Jeon Young-woo in charge. The treatment is intended for 15 patients and costs 76,207,178 won. Patients pay 40 million won when they receive treatment and an additional 30 million won if they remain recurrence-free for five years; if the cancer recurs, the full amount is refunded.

Jeong met the first patient enrolled in the treatment that day, heard about the patient’s experience and challenges, and thanked the researchers and medical staff.

“Advanced regenerative medicine treatments will offer new treatment opportunities to patients suffering from serious, rare and intractable diseases,” Jeong said. “I am very pleased that this first treatment could help prevent recurrence in patients with rare blood cancers.”

She added, “We will continue to improve the relevant system and provide support so that we can expand patients’ access to treatment while ensuring its safety.”