Skin cancer patients may miss out on costly new drug
It follows independent medicine cost watchdog, the National Pharmaeconomics Centre (NCPE), recommending the HSE not make Opdivo available through the public system.
This is at odds with a recent decision by the NCPE’s UK counterpart, which recommended that the drug, estimated to cost £5,700 (€7,217) per patient per month in the UK, be made available through the NHS system.
Research has found that melanoma patients survive much longer on Opdivo, which is administered by drip, than those given conventional chemotherapy.
The company behind the drug, Bristol Myers Squib (BMS) told the NCPE that the gross cost to the HSE over the first five years would be €98m and its net cost €17.6m.
The estimated cost by BMS is based on treatment with Opdivo being capped to a maximum of two years treatment duration.
However, the NCPE review group considered this timeframe may potentially underestimate the gross budget impact since there is no evidence to support the discontinuation of treatment at two years.
A spokeswoman for BMS said: “Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to collaborating with all relevant stakeholders in order to reach a positive recommendation for reimbursement so that patients in Ireland are able to access this potentially life-extending treatment.
She said: “We are unable to comment on the price of nivolumab [Opdivo] as this will be a confidential discussion with stakeholders including the HSE.”
A spokeswoman for the Irish Cancer Society said it “considers continued access to effective treatments for cancer patients to be of critical importance as we start to look towards a future without cancer”.
She said: “While many new cancer drugs have been made available to cancer patients in Ireland, the limitations of the health budget mean that very difficult decisions are being taken every day about which drugs the country can afford and which it cannot.
“The Irish Cancer Society wants Irish cancer patients to have the best chance of survival and access to the latest technologies is an important element of achieving that vision.”
A HSE spokeswoman said NCPE reports are required to ensure the most appropriate decisions are made. “The drug will now be reviewed by the National Cancer Control Programme Technology Review Committee.
Following appropriate deliberations, the committee makes a recommendation on the introduction of the individual drug. When this is positive, the recommendation is then brought forward to the HSE Drugs Committee for final decisions regarding funding,” she said.
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