Country: IRELAND | Region: EUROPE | Type: Policy | Keywords: #hse #ipha #newmedicinespolicy #patientaccess #pricingandreimbursement #sustainability
PRICENTRIC BRIEF:
- The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA), the representative body of the international originator biopharmaceutical industry in Ireland, has urged all political parties to pledge to improve patients’ access to new medicines as part of their plans for health during general elections
- Ireland is among the slowest in Western Europe to provide new medicines to patients and Budget 2020 allocated no new funding for new medicines, a decision IPHA has said will not be sustainable as the reliance on industry and HSE internal savings alone to fund new medicines will “run out of road”
- Oliver O’Connor, IPHA’s Chief Executive, said, “Without funding, new medicines, some of them already deemed cost-effective through pharmacoeconomic assessments, will remain stuck in the system…there, they will not reach patients and, consequently, medical needs will go unmet”
THE DETAILS
DUBLIN, Ireland – The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA), the representative body of the international originator biopharmaceutical industry in Ireland, has urged all political parties to pledge to improve patients’ access to new medicines as part of their plans for health during general elections.
Ireland is among the slowest in Western Europe to provide new medicines to patients, while, at the same time, the industry is providing significant savings, price cuts, and cash rebates to the Health Services Executive (HSE).
Since Irish patients are waiting up to three times longer for the same medicines patients in other European countries have access to, doctors have fewer options for treatments than elsewhere, affecting standards of care in Ireland.
Budget 2020 allocated no new funding for new medicines, a decision IPHA has said will not be sustainable as the reliance on industry and HSE internal savings alone to fund new medicines will “run out of road.”
Oliver O’Connor, IPHA’s Chief Executive, said, “Without funding, new medicines, some of them already deemed cost-effective through pharmacoeconomic assessments, will remain stuck in the system. There, they will not reach patients and, consequently, medical needs will go unmet. Now is the time to fix this.
“First, political parties should pledge to improve patients’ access to new medicines and assure them that protesting for medicines will be a thing of the past. Second, the next Government should adopt an explicit policy on how to allocate funding to new medicines, relying on both the State and industry contributions.”
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