From April, medicines for myasthenia patients will be fully reimbursed

Myasthenia gravis is a rare, chronic, autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterized by weakness of various muscle groups. The disease significantly reduces the patients’ quality of life, in severe cases the weakness also affects the respiratory muscles, and the patient is actually unable to breathe on his own – death occurs without hospitalization and intensive therapy.

Also, as of today, the inclusion of generic, biosimilar drugs in the list of compensable drugs is facilitated and the conditions for individual drug compensation have been revised, expanding the possibility for patients to receive individual drug compensation. The changes determine that in cases where the drugs included in the list of compensable drugs are not effective for a specific patient or are contraindicated, then the patient will be able to receive other drugs for the relevant diagnosis, at equivalent costs, but no more than 14,228.72 euros per year.

In order to make it easier for patients to receive reimbursable medicines, cases have been defined when a simplified procedure for including these medicines in the list of reimbursable medicines is applicable, without requiring the opinion of the State Medicines Agency with an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the medicine. Therefore, the National Health Service is given the opportunity to include medicines in the list of compensable medicines on its own initiative. The amendments also provide for a more flexible approach to the dispensing of reimbursable medicines at the pharmacy.

On the other hand, as of July 1st, medicines for which 50% compensation is set will be increased to 75%. It is planned that this will allow to reduce personal expenses for medicines for more than 205,000 patients.

The list of reimbursable medicines partially or fully covers the patient’s expenses for medicines or medical devices. The aim of the measures included in the compensation procedure is to provide support to the widest possible range of patients, as well as to achieve the lowest possible price of compensated medicines and medical devices.

TVNET already wrote that the Ministry of Health is working on measures to improve the availability of medicines, in accordance with the plan to reduce the prices of medicines.