Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senator and agree that it is urgent. She is right that we all need to work together, including the European Commission, the authorities here and the company in question. As a former Chairman of the health committee and someone who was involved in the passage of the 2013 Act, I assure the Senator that I genuinely appreciate the importance of ensuring that patients with DMD have access to the latest drugs. We are, as a country, very much open to that avenue of new drugs being made available. I assure the Senator that once the drug is granted marketing authorisation, the Department, along with the HSE, will strongly encourage all pharmaceutical companies to apply for reimbursement here. The pharmaceutical company has a critical role to play in that regard.

There have been significant investments to enhance the HSE's pricing and reimbursement process for medicines. A total of 34 new staff were hired across the pricing and reimbursement system last year and will support faster access to new and innovative medicines for patients. To support transparency in this process an application tracker has also been developed and launched. I assure the Senator that the Department of Health will continue to engage with all involved to ensure that all patients have access to new and innovative treatments.