John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know and accept the way the process works. I hope the Minister has the ability to input a proposal such as this to know that it should be considered. I have a Bill to amend the 2013 Act which is waiting in the lottery system for several weeks now. I am not looking for the HSE to reimburse any medicine which it does not believe is good value for the State. However, I must impress on the Minister of State that this particular drug is approved in over 60 countries and it is under review in 20 more. I suggest it is probably a matter of time before it is approved in Ireland. What we are looking for is quick access. The proposal the company has made is fair and allows for reimbursement.

I do not like making proposals because I am aware of value for money and finite budgets. In the past, I have raised the argument for using biosimilar medical products. In my opinion, there is a low-water figure of €50 million to be saved if we used available biosimilar products which are just as effective as the original brand. For some reason, we are stalling. The money is there but it is in another pot. What could we do with a saving of €50 million? The costs of Ocrevus, Respreeza and Kuvan - the phenylketonuria, PKU, sufferers will be here tomorrow looking for its approval – could be met with this saving.

Will the Minister of State impress on the Minister, Deputy Harris, this particular point? It makes sound economic sense like the case for generic medicines. The industry argued that if we started using generic brands, the sky would fall in. We did and the sky did not fall in. The same will apply to biosimilar medical products.

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