Cancer and osteoporosis patients to benefit from new drug approvals

Seven new medicines have been approved by the Health Service Executive, including a treatment dubbed the world’s most expensive drug and the first new medicine for osteoporosis for over a decade.

Other medicines approved for reimbursement by the HSE are for the treatment of different types of cancer, and to tackle antimicrobial-resistant infections.

The seven drugs are being funded from €20 million made available by the Government last December. This followed controversy in the budget the previous October, when no funding for new medicines was allocated.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said he hopes to generate another €10 million for investment in new drugs this year through greater use of cheaper generic drugs.

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Many of the drugs will be of benefit to patients for whom other treatment options do not exist.

“Many of the newly approved drugs are responding to a previously unmet need,” according to HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry. “They will target conditions that existing approved medications cannot treat, such as infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria.”

Libmeldy, whose original price is almost €3 million per patient, is being made available under the initiative following price negotiations with the manufacturer. It is used to treat metachromatic leukodystrophy – or MLD – a rare and life-threatening inherited disease that affects the metabolic system in children. The condition seriously damages the brain and the nervous system.

The breakthrough was reached through joint negotiations involving Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands in talks with the manufacturer under the Beneluxa initiative.

Evenity (romosozumab) is being made available for the treatment of postmenopausal women with severe osteoporosis, who have experienced a major fracture within the previous 24 months and who are at imminent risk of another fragility fracture.

About 32,000 people suffer fragility fractures every year, with the number projected to increase as Ireland’s population ages. Fractures cause substantial pain and disability, and ultimately lead to earlier deaths.

[ Seven things to know about the risk of osteoporosis and bone health ]

“This reimbursement agreement will target a very specific, at-risk subgroup of postmenopausal women,” said Dr Henry. “It’s a first-in-class medication and could prevent these women from requiring additional care. It’s also been shown that severe fractures in older age can result in morbidity within one year. Providing these medications could have a significant benefit for this population in the future.”

Fetcroja/cefiderocol will be used for vulnerable adults with antimicrobial-resistant infections for whom no other medication has been effective.

Three medications that can prevent recurrence of lung cancer have also been approved – Tagrisso (osimertinib) and two forms of Tecentriq (atezolizumab).

Meanwhile, transplant patients will benefit from Livtencity (maribavir), which reduces the risk of infections and illness after their operations.

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