Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Funding of Orphan Drugs: Discussion

9:00 am

Professor Gerry McElvaney:

It is a really important point. From our studies we know that when a person gets emphysema and loses lung tissue, he or she never gets it back. We have done the studies over two years. If a person is waiting two years to see if a drug is to be approved, he or she will have irretrievably lost lung tissue.