Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This arises every year because of the approval of a new drug for a specific or rare challenge that patients may experience throughout the country. Everybody is well aware now of the long and complicated process to deal with Kalydeco and Orkambi for cystic fibrosis patients throughout the country, which has been extraordinarily expensive. However, we cannot put a price on quality of life. Deputy Healy-Rae said that every life has to be treated the same.

The process that the Minister for Health undertook partly concerns the issue that Deputy Martin raised. What do we do about very expensive drugs that appear on the approved list in the time ahead? We do not know the scale of it at this stage. The Minister had to meet with the drugs companies and work out some sense of stability and permanence over a ten year period for a portfolio of drugs that they may produce. In the final decision on the cystic fibrosis treatments there was a significant reduction, and therefore saving for the tax payer, arising from the conclusion reached. That kind of operation allows further funding for new drugs that come on. Decisions have to made here about these drugs.

The day after the cystic fibrosis decision it was reported that there are 35 or 40 new drugs on the way which will treat very specialist, rare diseases and which will probably be extraordinarily expensive. We have to work out how best that might be dealt with in the context of the overall allocation available to the Minister.

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