Many patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2023 may be left without treatment due to the fact that the government did not include the drug recommended by the Ministry of Health in the list of high-cost nosologies (VZN). This is stated in the appeal of the All-Russian Public Organization of Disabled Persons with Multiple Sclerosis (OOOIBRS) to the Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko (the document is at the disposal of Izvestia).
We are talking about 2 thousand patients who were declared by the regions as applicants for the immunosuppressant Kayendra. In August 2022, the commission of the Ministry of Health approved its inclusion in the VZN list, but it was not included in the final version approved by the government in December.
This means that its purchase will not be provided from the federal budget, and the provision of patients with medicine in 2023 will remain the prerogative of the regions.
Considering that last year the subjects were able to purchase it for only about 350 patients, there is a risk that the rest of those in need will not receive the medicine, Yan Vlasov, president of OOOIBRS, said in an interview with Izvestia.
Now a course of treatment costs about 800 thousand rubles a year (subject to purchase under a state contract), and in retail it can reach up to 1.2 million.
“There is a possibility that patients will face drug shortages as early as the first quarter of 2023. No one expected that they would not be included in the VNZ. In free sale, the price will be even higher – according to our estimates, by about 30-40% or even 50%. It will be impossible to purchase medicines at such a price within the framework of a regional benefit, which means that they will not get to patients, ”said Yan Vlasov.
Nikolai Shamalov, chief freelance neurologist of the Ministry of Health, commenting on the situation, said that at the moment, when prescribing therapy, doctors have a sufficient choice of drugs for the treatment of patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.
Siponimod (international non-proprietary name Cayendra. – Ed.) is registered in the Russian Federation, it has been included in the list of vital and essential drugs since 2021 and is prescribed to patients by decision of the medical commission. Purchases of the drug are carried out at the expense of the budgets of the regions, ”the specialist emphasized.
Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:
Therapeutic anxiety: MS patients may be left without therapy
