Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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343. To ask the Minister for Health the reason oncology patients cannot get a medication (details supplied), even though it has been licenced in Ireland (details supplied). [50968/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, the HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines and medical devices; therefore, I have asked the HSE for an update in this matter.

The HSE has advised that it is committed to providing access to as many medicines as possible, in as timely a fashion as possible, from the resources available (provided) to it.

The HSE must robustly assess applications for pricing and reimbursement to make sure that it can stretch available resources as far as possible and to deliver the best value in relation to each medicine and ultimately more medicines to Irish citizens and patients.

HSE decisions on which medicines are reimbursed by the taxpayer are made on objective, scientific and economic grounds.

There are formal processes which govern applications for the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, and new uses of existing medicines, to be funded and / or reimbursed.

The HSE considers the following criteria prior to making any decision on pricing / reimbursement in line with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013:

(1) The health needs of the public,

(2) The cost effectiveness of meeting health needs by supplying the item concerned rather than providing other health services,

(3) The availability and suitability of items for supply or reimbursement,

(4) The proposed costs, benefits, and risks of the item or listed item relative to therapeutically similar items or listed items provided in other health service settings and the level of certainty in relation to the evidence of those costs, benefits and risks,

(5) The potential or actual budget impact of the item or listed item,

(6) The clinical need for the item or listed item,

(7) The appropriate level of clinical supervision required in relation to the item to ensure patient safety,

(8) The efficacy (performance in trial), effectiveness (performance in real situations) and added therapeutic benefit against existing standards of treatment (how much better it treats a condition than existing therapies), and

(9) The resources available to the HSE.

In terms of the specific details of the applications for pricing and reimbursement of cemiplimab ­­(Libtayo®):

Since the 1st October 2024, cemiplimab (Libtayo®) is approved for reimbursement under the Oncology Drugs Management System (ODMS) as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (mCSCC or laCSCC) who are not candidates for curative surgery or curative radiation.

The HSE received a complete application for pricing and reimbursement on the 9th January 2025 from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (the applicant) for cemiplimab (Libtayo®) indicated as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer and disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy.

• The first step in the process is the submission of a Rapid Review dossier (a clinical and economic dossier) to the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) for assessment. The HSE commissioned the Rapid Review process on the 2nd December 2024.
• The NCPE Rapid Review assessment report was received by the HSE on the 17th January 2025. The NCPE advised the HSE that a full Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is recommended to assess the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of cemiplimab for this indication compared with the current standard of care.
• The HSE commissioned a full HTA on the 29th January 2025 as per agreed processes.
• The NCPE publishes details of medicines where the HSE has commissioned a Rapid Review assessment and / or a full health technology assessment on their website. The website is updated at regular intervals and includes assessment outcomes and updates on reimbursement for each individual medicine and indication listed. Details of the assessment(s) of cemiplimab (Libtayo®) are available at: www.ncpe.ie/cemiplimab-libtayo-hta-id-24048/.
• The HSE Corporate Pharmaceutical Unit (CPU) is the interface between the HSE and the Pharmaceutical Industry in relation to medicine pricing and reimbursement applications.
• The Drugs Group is the national committee which the HSE has in place to make recommendations on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines. The membership of the HSE Drugs Group includes public interest members. Pharmacoeconomic reports are reviewed by the HSE Drugs Group along with the outputs of any commercial negotiations, and any patient group submission(s) received. The HSE Drugs Group considers all of the evidence and makes a recommendation to the HSE Senior Leadership Team.
• The decision making authority in the HSE is the HSE Senior Leadership Team. The HSE Senior Leadership Team decides on the basis of all the demands it is faced with (across all services) whether it can fund a new medicine, or new use of an existing medicine, from the resources that have been provided to it in line with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013.