New mechanism of action for the transplant journey: Meiji Pharma and PatientsForce ease the medication burden for cGVHD patients

Given the limits of current reimbursed treatments, clinicians urgently need medicines with new mechanisms of action for patients who fail steroids or respond poorly to second-line therapy.

A 50-year-old woman with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) achieved complete remission after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) — only to develop chronic rejection symptoms: itchy, dry skin over her whole body, oral ulcers that made eating difficult, and dry-eye disease, sharply reducing her quality of life. Dr. Yeh Shih-peng, chairman of the Taiwan Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, notes that chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a common complication after allogeneic HSCT: many patients are cured of their blood cancer by a successful transplant, yet see their quality of life eroded by rejection.

First-line treatment is usually steroids, but long-term use brings serious side effects — moon face, osteoporosis, poor glycemic control and weakened immunity. Second-line options such as JAK inhibitors exist, but reimbursement criteria are strict, mainly targeting pulmonary involvement with specific lung-function decline thresholds; patients with severe skin, eye or oral involvement often cannot qualify.

In response, Meiji Pharma Taiwan has joined hands with patient support program provider PatientsForce to offer a medication support service for cGVHD patients, aiming to improve access through public-private collaboration. 'Getting patients treated in time and helping the healthcare system raise the quality of patient care is how we truly realize patient-centricity,' said Kentaro Misaku, General Manager of Meiji Pharma Taiwan.

Answering treatment limits and bridging the reimbursement care gap

Dr. Yeh notes that some new-mechanism medicines act on inflammation-regulation pathways differently from traditional treatment; clinical studies have observed improvements beyond pulmonary manifestations, including skin fibrosis and joint stiffness, offering different possibilities for treatment choice. Given cGVHD's broad impact across organs, he hopes new medicines will enter NHI reimbursement to benefit more patients.

Reprinted from Healthnews, 2026-03-03, reported by Huang Yi-ning.