Irish pharma R&D experts tell government to fund new medicines so thousands of patients can benefit
By Chris Wheal
July 30, 2024
IPHA says €25m will pay for 36 new medicines in 2025, benefiting 3,700 patients
Ireland’s medicines research trade body has warned the government not to make the same mistake it made in Budget 2024, when it allocated zero funding for new medicines.
The Irish Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association (IPHA) has demanded €25m. It claims its members could apply for reimbursement for 36 medicines in 2025, benefiting as many as 3,700 patients in Ireland.
Mistakes of the past
The IPHA says the government set a direct allocation for new medicines in 2021, 2022, 2023 but dropped it in the 2024 Budget, before backtracking in December 2023. It then set aside €20m for new medicines, with a further €10m made available through savings.
By July, 20 new medicines – IPHA (13) and non IPHA (7) – had been reimbursed by the Health Service Executive (HSE). Already 15 of those new medicines have helped at least 700 patients and their families and carers.
IPHA chief executive Oliver O’Connor said: “We believe that there needs to be a clear policy to plan for and fund the continuous flow of life-enhancing new medicines in 2025 and over multiple years. Efficiencies are both possible and desirable to make the medicines spend sustainable but alone they cannot provide sufficient funding for the uptake of new medicines. Annual Exchequer funding for new developments remains a necessity.”
Long-term savings
O’Connor said the IPHA and government need to renew a cost-saving agreement. “IPHA member companies are actively delivering significant savings to the state on an annual basis via the framework agreement we agreed in 2021 and which expires in September 2025, within the Budget year now being considered. This agreement has delivered more than €400m in savings in its first two years of implementation, well above the anticipated overall savings of between €600 and €700m for the full four-year period,” he said.
“We remain ready and willing to partner with government to achieve certainty for clinicians and patients and to work with the HSE to bring newly authorised medicines to the Irish healthcare system as quickly as possible.”
Medicines in the pipeline would improve the standard of care for patients suffering from:
· Breast cancer
· Leukaemia
· Prostate cancer
· Multiple myeloma
· Alzheimer’s
· Stroke
· Women’s health conditions
· Migraine
· Dermatitis
· Asthma
· Ulcerative colitis
· Type 2 diabetes
· Liver disease
Along with benefiting thousands of patients, these life-enhancing medicines will also positively impact the lives of their families and carers, the IPHA said.
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