Reform could take one year off reimbursement processing times for life-saving medicines – IPHA

The almost two-year wait patients in Ireland currently face in order to access life-enhancing medicines could be halved if the reimbursement system is adequately reformed, the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association has said.

A position paper by the body, which represents the pharmaceutical industry here, argues that partnership between industry and State, with Government support, is required to create a system that delivers faster and fairer access to new medicines within the legislative timelines.

Looking at the 88 IPHA medicines that were reimbursed through the Irish system between 2022 and 2024, the paper found that the average time from the submission of an application to patient access is 617 days.

Of those reimbursed medicines, it took on average five months from the final price offer being proposed by a company to the State before the medicine reached the patient.

As many as 86 per cent of medicines reimbursed were in excess of the 180-day timeline outlined in the Health Act 2013.

Over this period, there were 17 IPHA orphan medicines reimbursed which took 655 days to patient access. For the 45 IPHA cancer medicines reimbursed, the average time before a patient could access the treatment was 694 days.

On average it took 916 days for 44 IPHA medicines needing a full Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to be available to patients in Ireland, for which State processes accounted for approximately 65 per cent of the time or 593 days.

IPHA is calling for reform of the system to ensure all parties involved adhere to the legal 180-days timeline set by the Oireachtas in 2013. They believe this can be achieved by incorporating and adopting five key principles as part of negotiations into the framework agreement on the pricing and supply of medicines between IPHA and the State which are due to take place later this year.

These principles include:

• Patients having access to therapeutic advances within clear policy-driven timings after market authorization.
• Predictability and stability in medicines expenditure
• Process transparency and communication
• Financial measures linked to process efficiencies and accelerated patient access, and
• Regular dialogue scheduled across relevant agencies and industry.

“A year can make a big difference in a patient’s life. In the normal course of events, if the Irish system adhered to the legislation, patients in Ireland could access new medicines within a year rather than, on average, nearly two years after an application for reimbursement, and longer for many cancer and rare disease medicines,” said IPHA chief executive Oliver O’Connor.

“We now have an opportunity, together, to effectively reform the system and meet the goal of faster and fairer access to new medicines for patients in Ireland.

“We welcome positive steps introduced in recent years by the Minister for Health such as the use of ‘indicative timelines’ by the HSE. The Programme for Government commitments to review the medicines reimbursement process and to implement the Mazars Review recommendations further builds upon this recognition that patients in Ireland deserve better.

“A new framework agreement on the pricing and supply of medicines between IPHA and the State is due to be negotiated in 2025. IPHA is proposing five key principles of mutual commitments to be included in the framework agreement. if adopted, these principles will improve patient care, allow for more productive partnerships, improve health system functioning and will fulfil the commitments in the Programme for Government for quicker access to new innovative medicines.”