Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. O'Mahony and Ms O'Connor to the meeting. The regulation of medicines is an increasingly important area of activity, with new products being developed on a continuous basis. This creates challenges for both regulators and Government, not least in the area of cost. In the course of Question Time in the Dáil earlier this year, my colleagues and I pressed the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, on the difficulties for patients regarding access to new and developing cancer treatments and medicines and the need to ensure speedy access thereto for all who need them. In this regard, we pointed the Ministers to the clear disparity across Health Service Executive regions in terms of access to medicines, with Tysabri cited as an example. My understanding is that this matter has not been resolved and it remains the case that some HSE regions are not fulfilling their obligations in terms of the right of patients to access that particular drug. Does the Irish Medicines Board have a function in this regard and has it been involved in addressing this disparity across HSE regions?

The chart included in the delegates' presentation is useful and welcome. What would be even more useful, however, would be a chart setting out the relationship between the Minister and the Department, the HSE, the IMB, the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics and the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association. It is often very unclear to members of the public how each of these bodies relates to the others in terms of specific roles and responsibilities.

The delegates' presentation includes a specific statement that health technology assessment reimbursement and pricing are not part the board's remit. My final point relates to the latter aspect. The delegates have said they are looking forward to assisting in the implementation of a scheme for generic substitution following the passage of relevant legislation through the Oireachtas. As it stands, however, the massive disparities in the cost of medicines as between this and other countries apply not only in respect of on-patent drugs but also their generic equivalents. The potential of the new legislation to realise critical savings in terms of health expenditure will be washed away if this issue is not addressed. As a Border resident, I am aware that the cost of medicines is substantially cheaper under the National Health Service system in the North in the case of both on-patent medicines and their generic substitutes. Constituents have cited instances in which medicines, both on-patent and generic, in pharmacies south of the Border are charged at up to 12 times their cost in the North. This is a very worrying situation which must indicate gross profiteering on the part of the pharmaceutical companies and distributors in this jurisdiction. The delegates have indicated the IBM has no role in regard to pricing, yet they are anxious to participate in the implementation of the generic substitution plan following the passage of legislation through the Oireachtas. Surely they cannot be blinkered to the facts to which I have referred?