Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Naughten for raising what is a very important issue. The first point I want to make is that the Government is committed to ensuring that patients in Ireland get timely access to new and innovative medicines. In my time in the Department of public expenditure and reform, this was an issue on which we consulted and worked very closely with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and his Department. We provided ring-fenced funding to ensure that new medicines could be made available in Ireland.

Some 148 new medicines have been approved in the past three years. That is based on the €98 million in new medicines funding, with total expenditure of €327.5 million to the end of 2023. This has facilitated the introduction of 61 new cancer medicines in Ireland, bringing the total spend on cancer drugs in the last three years to more than €600 million. For example, in 2021, we provided €50 million of ring-fenced funding that allowed 52 medicines to be approved, half of which were for cancer. In 2022, there was a further €30 million and that allowed 60 medicines to be approved, 18 of which were for cancer. Last year, of €18 million in funding, 36 medicines were approved, 17 of which were for cancer. Of course, that funding goes into the base. That is permanent funding that recurs every year. Once a particular medicine is approved, it is essentially demand-led and the funding will be provided to meet that demand. Therefore, that funding is in the base.

The Deputy made a relevant point in respect of staffing. We have provided an additional 34 staff across the pricing and reimbursement process. Funding in that regard was provided in the budget last autumn. This year, the HSE will launch an application tracker to increase transparency in the medicines assessment process.

There is very close collaboration and a very good working relationship between Government and industry on this issue. The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association engages on an ongoing basis with the Department of Health. This issue is raised with me by IDA Ireland clients when I meet with them. I am satisfied that the work is well under way and that the progress we have made so far will be built upon. We will continue to improve access to new, innovative medicines here in Ireland, including those for cancer.

When we look at the overall numbers, as I am required to do in my job, we can see that almost €3 billion is being spent on new, better medicines. It is therefore vital that the HSE robustly assesses offers from industry and that it maximises the use of its resources to purchase as many new medicines as possible. That work will continue.

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