Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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469. To ask the Minister for Health given the reports of the cost of the new Cystic Fibrosis drug, if he will provide comparatives of costs for other drugs used across his Department and the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45316/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The HSE has estimated the cost of reimbursing the new cystic fibrosis (CF) drug Orkambi™ at approximately €90m per year. Over the last three years, the executive has reimbursed more than €20m per year on another CF treatment, Kalydeco®, and there are now approximately 140 patients receiving this drug.

The majority of high-tech drugs reimbursed by the HSE are subject to commercially confidential rebates and discounts. Therefore, it is not possible to provide accurate comparisons between the cost of Orkambi™ and other high-tech drugs.