PHP158 - Access To New Drugs After The Introduction Of The 2011 Reimbursement Act In Poland

Abstract

The new reimbursement law that came into force in Poland in 2012 listed amongst its goals better access to new, more effective treatments for Polish patients. The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamics of including new drugs into the reimbursement lists (that are published every 2 months) since the introduction of the new law and to evaluate the impact of the Reimbursement Act on access to new drugs. All reimbursement lists (25) published since the introduction of the new reimbursement law and enumerating newly enlisted drugs were analyzed and active substances appearing on the list for the first time were extracted. Products containing the same active substance were calculated as one new active substance available (also in case of introducing an innovative pharmaceutical form). Drugs combinations were calculated as a new active substance even if one of the active ingredients had already been previously available. Foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes and medical devices were excluded. Graphs illustrating new active substances inclusion into the particular reimbursement lists were generated. Over the 4 and a half year of the new reimbursement law functioning over 250 new active substances have been introduced into public funding. There are no clear increasing or decreasing trends discernible. The number of new active substances introduced varies widely between lists. Relatively, the largest number of new active substances became available in 2014. The new reimbursement law led to inclusion into reimbursement lists of a significant number of new active substances. It constitutes an apparent change in comparison to the past, when few active substances had been introduced over decades. The new active substances are usually dedicated though to narrow subpopulations of particularly needy patients.