Hungary's National Health Insurance Fund Administration (OEP) has confirmed the addition of 10 new innovative medicines to its reimbursement list in its February update.
IHS Global Insight perspective | |
Significance | The addition of 10 new innovative medicines in the update of the reimbursement list in February has been confirmed by Hungary's OEP. |
Implications | This is the most significant increase in Hungarian patients' access to new innovative medicines for several years. |
Outlook | The addition of the drugs is a positive development, although the fact remains that they have all been awaiting addition to the list for some time. Although their addition bodes well for the future, cost-containment will still be a guiding factor in the Hungarian authorities' stance towards new innovative treatments in future. |
Many new innovative drugs added to the reimbursement list from February
Hungary's National Health Insurance Administration (OEP) has updated its drug reimbursement list from the beginning of February with the addition of 10 new innovate drugs. The full list of the new innovative treatments can be found below, as well as at the website of the OEP, by clicking the link "új készítmények" under the files provided for February (február).
New innovative drugs included in OEP's February reimbursement list update | |||
Drug | Producer | Indication | Reimbursement rate |
Adenuric (febuxostat) | Menarini (Italy) | Chronic gout | 70% |
Afinitor (everolimus) | Novartis (Switzerland) | Kidney cancer | 100% |
Eliquis (apaxiban) | Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS; both US) | Not specified | 90% |
Gilenya (fingolimod) | Novartis | Highly active, relapsing multiple sclerosis | 100% |
Inlyta (axinitib) | Pfizer | Kidney cancer | 100% |
Ruconest (conestat alpha) | Pharming (Netherlands) | Hereditary angiodema | 100% |
Strattera (atomoxetine) | Eli Lilly (US) | ADHD | 70% |
Tasigna (nilotinib) | Novartis | Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia | 100% |
Votrient (pazopinib) | GlaxoSmithKline (United Kingdom) | Kidney cancer | 100% |
Xgeva (denosumab) | Amgen (US) | Treatment of men with bone metastases from prostate cancer | 100% |
Source: OEP, EMMI | |||
New cardiovascular drugs to be added in May
The Hungarian State Secretariat for Healthcare (EMMI) has provided details of the update to the list in its own press release, which can be accessed here, in Hungarian. According to the EMMI press release, three new medicines for the prevention of stroke in patients with cardiac arrhythmia are due to be reimbursed from the beginning of May. Hungarian newspaper Népszabadság reports that these blood-thinning agents have been available to patients in other European markets for two years or more, with Hungary lagging behind in approving them (however, the products involved are not named).
IGY praises addition of new drugs
Nevertheless, as reports the Hungarian medical news source, the addition of these drugs is a major advance in terms of patients' access to new innovative treatments in Hungary. The Hungarian Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (IGY) is reported by the source as stating that not since 2011 has there been an equivalent boost to the number of new innovative medicines in the OEP's reimbursement list.
The source reports that in the case of the addition of three renal cancer treatments to the list, this is a very timely move, since the incidence of this type of cancer has increased considerably in recent years in Hungary: the number of reported cases went up from 1,875 in 2002 to 2,025 in 2006. It is reported that experts estimate that the three oral treatments for kidney cancer added to the list could provide a solution for approximately 500 to 800 Hungarian patients.
In the case of Adenuric, it is reported that up to 3,500 Hungarian chronic gout sufferers could benefit from treatment with this drug. Regarding ADHD treatment Strattera, it is reported that 680–1,700 Hungarian children are affected each year with this condition and that the use of the drug could reduce losses otherwise incurred due to ADHD. Between 350 and 550 multiple sclerosis patients are reportedly expected to be able to benefit from treatment with Gilenya.
Outlook and implications
In the case of each of these drugs, the delay to reimbursement in Hungary has been considerable. In comparison with other European markets – even those with comparable economic profiles to Hungary, in the Central and Eastern Europe region – Hungarian patients will be receiving these drugs somewhat later than their peers have in other countries. It may be related that the IGY has pursued a campaign of awareness raising of the impact of these delays on patients – and there is a sense that this has, eventually, paid off. Nevertheless, as it has been suggested by the IGY, Hungary has slipped in recent years into a lower tier of countries with regards to access to innovative medicines (see Hungary: 22 January 2014: Hungary slips into "second tier" of CEE nations in terms of access to innovative drugs, says AIPM).
In Hungary, cost-containment has been achieved in the off-patent and generics sector through blind-bid tendering, while, in the innovative/originator sector, the widening of the system of itemised reimbursement – involving very careful control of the use of highly-expensive medicines in the inpatient sector, with centralised procurement – has also ensured a degree of savings. Therefore, the Hungarian authorities are likely to have considered that they have the financial capacity to afford the addition of a good number of new innovative treatments.
With regards to the three unnamed cardiovascular medicines set to be added to the list from May, this will be after the general election in Hungary, set to take place in April. Not adding these drugs to the list in February appears to be nothing more than a cost-containment measure. The drugs concerned are likely to be Pradaxa (dabigatran; Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany), Xarelto (rivaroxaban; Bayer, Germany) and Eliquis (apaxiban; Pfizer), with the latter to gain an indication extension. They are due to be 70% reimbursed in the allocated indication.