Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Minister of State's response. The drugs which are going for approval have already gone through the whole scientific process. First, there is no doubt that the drugs have been approved and would be of benefit. Second, there is the mechanism that comes into play thereafter. I accept where the HSE is coming from, that if a particular price is required for a drug then that influences its cost effectiveness. Nevertheless, if, for instance, a drug costs €50,000 for a patient, when assessing whether the drug is cost effective, we should look at how many weeks of the year that patient will be hospitalised. All those issues must be taken into account and I am not clear if they are. If a patient can be given a drug that means he or she will spend less time in the care of a hospital, there is a saving for the State. All those issues need to be considered.

Finally, we are looking to work with smaller countries. Would we be far better off working with a country such as Germany which has a far bigger population? If we could tie in with them to agree prices we might come out far better.I am not clear on it but it is something we should look at as well.