Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Nobody wants to be put in a position of determining between life and death. This will continue to be an issue because new drugs are being tested, assessed, analysed and created as time passes. A number of new drugs come on stream every year. Deputy Micheál Martin has referred to pembrolizumab and nivolizumab. The new Minister in the Department of Health, Deputy Simon Harris, has asked for a meeting on the availability of these drugs to take place tomorrow. The State pays out €1.7 billion on drugs every year and that figure could potentially grow by approximately €400 million in the coming years. There is always an analysis that has to be carried out. I understand a price cannot be put on a life.

More high-cost treatment drugs are continuously coming out. Like other countries, Ireland needs to ensure those patients who could benefit most have priority access to emerging high-cost treatments. At the same time, we must ensure the drugs are affordable to the taxpayer. It is important to emphasise that these decisions should not be made by the Government or ministerial order. They have to be made through the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics which makes clinical decisions on the basis of a determination of the value and benefit of drugs for patients who can avail of them. As the Deputy has pointed out, the drugs referred to are being considered by the HSE. I hope the participants at tomorrow's meeting will reach a conclusion on whether these drugs represent value for money. The Minister has asked the HSE to conclude its deliberations quickly because he wants to know the position. A memo has to come to the Government which will have to consider the cost implications of what is involved. No Minister wants to be put in a position in which he or she has to tell people that somebody will die if they do not approve a drug.

As time passes and the years go by, there will be new treatments that will be exceptionally expensive and still have great benefits for people with particular ailments. A drug produced at the AbbVie facility in Sligo is not just a treatment for hepatitis C - it is an absolute cure. It brings joy and consolation to people who are able to avail of it and enjoy its curing qualities. It means a whole new emphasis on life and living for them. As I said, the group is meeting tomorrow and the Minister needs to know. We will wait and see what the group's analysis and conclusion is. The Minister will bring a memo to the Government as soon as possible. I take Deputy Micheál Martin's point that this issue needs to be dealt with as part of an overall strategy within the health system. Given that almost €14 billion is provided for it, it is obvious that one could identify areas where savings of a serious nature could be made. We do not want to be in a position where somebody who needs treatment with a very expensive drug has his or her life taken from them sooner than would naturally have occurred because he or she does not receive this treatment. We want to see a clinical decision by those who understand these things. After the Minister is informed of that decision, the Government will make a decision on the affordability of these drugs in order that taxpayers will know that they are getting good value for the money they are spending and patients can have their lives saved where that is appropriate.

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