Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the committee for facilitating me. I am substituting for Deputy John Lahart this morning. I welcome Dr. De Block to the meeting and it is interesting to see our system compared with the Belgian system.

Dr. De Block's presentation indicates we must ensure we have a sustainable reimbursement system not just in Belgium or Ireland but right across the EU. Will she expand on what she means by that? In Ireland, as speakers have said, our waiting times are quite lengthy. We have had answers to parliamentary questions indicating waiting times ranging from 800 to 1,200 days, depending on criteria. Is that reflective of a sustainable reimbursement system?

In Ireland we do not have a specific pathway to assess orphan drugs and it is part of the mainstream assessment. In Belgium is there a specific assessment pathway for orphan drugs, or is it like the Irish system, where every drug is assessed under the same threshold?

I have a question on the number of drugs in Belgium approved over the past few years. Will Dr. De Block give a breakdown of the past two or three years? Until recently in Ireland the number has been quite low but there has been an injection of funding in the past couple of years that helped us to approve a certain amount of drugs. How do we compare with Belgium in the list of drugs approved?

The last question is in regard to patient groups and their involvement in the process. Do patient groups in Belgium feel there is open and transparent analysis of the drug approval process and the reimbursement system or do they feel outside of the loop, so to speak, as they do here? I know that is a lot of questions.