Izabela Leszczyna: We want to meet patients' expectations

- In 2025, we will want to meet patients' expectations, just as we did in 2024. There are more and more of these new therapies, and we are doing our best to make sure that what shows up on the market enters the list of reimbursed drugs as soon as possible," assured Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna, outlining the most important changes that the January list will bring.

- We have 31 substances. The most anticipated is rivaroxaban. Until now, a pack of this drug cost several hundred zlotys. The cheapest equivalent will be available for as little as PLN 10. This substance is used, among other things, in the prevention of strokes. The fact that we have this drug and it will be cheaper is our greatest joy. Specialists said that the introduction of this substance is the biggest success since the existence of the reimbursement law," said Minister Izabela Leszczyna.

New reimbursements have also appeared in ultra-rare diseases. These include drugs for the youngest children and patients with ultra-rare diseases - the Voxzogo product used to treat children with achondroplasia, or low-grade achondroplasia, and the gene therapy product Luxturna, a drug that helps save sight.

- We plan to publish the National List of Critical Medicines later this year. This draft identifies active substances found in drugs that are extremely important to patients, and their absence from the market could put their health at risk. There are 238 items on the draft list," added Deputy Health Minister Marek Kos.

The deputy head of the health ministry also summarized the most important changes that were achieved in the year that ended.

- The year 2024 has been very busy, but also very good for patients. We had as many as 135 new therapies, 36 of them in oncology indications and 99 in non-oncology indications. There were a lot of new therapies when it comes to treating rare or ultra-rare diseases, as 36. 66 were reimbursed with the most expensive substances within drug programs, 6 indications new in the chemotherapy catalog and 3 each in therapies with a high degree of innovation and high clinical value," Marek Kos mentioned.

Hematooncology reigns supreme in oncology indications, he added. It accounted for 15 of the 36 new indications. In non-oncology indications, psychiatry and neurology were the most new.

On the other hand, a major amendment to the Reimbursement Law made it possible to introduce reduced payment for Polish drugs as of April 1.

- Some of them have a 10 percent lower cost to the patient. Today, there are 480 drugs manufactured by Polish manufacturers from Polish active substances (group G1), and those that Polish entities manufacture from foreign substances are 34 (group G2). More drugs are being reimbursed, and as of January 1 there will be more than 600 in group G1.

- A whole year's work on amending the Reimbursement Law continued. Certain changes from 2023 were not optimal and caused a big storm. Among the main points we want to change is to ensure that applicants ensure availability for patients under new drug programs from day 1 of the decision. We also want to introduce 4 reimbursement categories for the treatment of patients in AOS for non-oncological diseases. The amendment will also allow the possibility for the minister to summon a pharmaceutical company to submit an application. Companies are submitting these applications with a long delay. Another issue under discussion is the drug supply algorithm. We want to remove this from the law," Marek Kos announced.