2024-07-29 17:14:23
POLA director Neringa Čiakienė told “Lietuvos ryto” television that up to 18,000 people are diagnosed per year. new cases of oncological diseases, according to the press release.
“Patients, after hearing the diagnosis of an oncological disease, naturally expect that they will receive the best possible treatment. Of course, only after the diagnosis is made, the treatment is accepted as it is, without looking into whether it is the most innovative or more according to the possibilities”, said N. Čiakienė.
However, the majority of patients need treatment with innovative drugs, which, according to Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor Saulius Čaplinskas, can save people’s lives.
“Innovative drugs are new, recently approved drugs that are much more effective in treating diseases with fewer side effects. Or at all, it cures diseases that were not cured before,” said S. Čaplinskas.
However, such drugs are not available to patients in Lithuania.
“Some people say that they will buy innovative medicines, find money, use their savings. However, the problem is that medicines are very expensive – they cost not hundreds, but thousands of euros in most cases. And it’s not like you’ll take medication for two weeks and get better, these are medications that are taken for a year,” explained the director of POLA.
According to international research, the European Medicines Agency in 2019-2022 48 innovative oncological drugs are registered. Of these, 46 are available to patients in Germany, and only 3 in Lithuania. According to the study, Lithuania is one of the last in Europe in terms of the availability of innovative medicines.
However, when looking at the waiting time for drugs to be included in reimbursement lists, the situation is even worse.
“In terms of how long it takes to add an innovative drug to the reimbursement list, we are last. In Lithuania, it takes 2.5 years for the medicine to be approved for use, in Germany the process is 17 times faster, in Sweden it is three times faster,” said Prof. S. Čaplinskas.
According to the director of POLA, the organization raises questions about the availability of innovative medicines year after year, but receives the same answer.
“Usually the emphasis is on the issue of funds – that we are not such a rich country, we cannot match Germany and Norway”, said N. Čiakienė.
According to Morgana Danielė, a member of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee, Germany allocates a similar percentage of the total available health budget to medicines as Lithuania – 18-19 percent. However, Germany’s budget is much larger than Lithuania’s, so the percentage allocated to medicines in our country is not enough.
According to M.Danielė, when solving the problem of innovative medicines in the country, additional sources of funding should first be sought in the PSDF.
“I would talk about allocating reserve money. We keep about 20 percent of this in reserve. funds allocated to health, this is a considerable amount and perhaps part of the money could be allocated to such exceptional cases”, she told Lietuvos ryto television.
According to POLA, about 48 thousand people receive treatment with oncological drugs in Lithuania. patients.
2024-07-29 17:14:23