Nine life-changing drugs to be made available to Irish patients
Up to nine life-saving drugs look set to be made available in Ireland after an agreement was reached between the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health.
There had been a dispute between the two bodies in relation to the drugs, which include medication for cancer, heart disease and depression, but that has now been resolved.
According to the HSE, some of the drugs will be available from September, and funding for them this year will come from this existing budget.
The ongoing dispute has impacted on the care and treatment available to patients according to Social Democrats TD Roisin Shortall, who said there is a need for a better model when it comes to approving funding for new drugs.
The nine new drugs are:
- Opdivo for Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Otezla for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis
- Gazyvaro for follicular lymphoma
- Entyvio for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis
- Entresto for heart failure
- Lynparza for ovarian cancer
- Opdivo for renal cell carcinoma
- Erivedge for basal cell carcinoma
- Brintellix for depression
