In 2022, Polish patients will gain access to 84 modern therapies. The September list of reimbursed medicines will include the most expensive drug for SMA – Zolgensma. It will be available to children up to the age of six months. “Poland is one of the few countries that provide comprehensive treatment for SMA”, emphasized Health Minister Adam Niedzielski during the conference.
From September, the reimbursement list will include around 4,000 drugs including the most expensive drug for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, Zolgensma.
“In 2022, Polish patients will gain the widest access to 84 innovative therapies – 29 for oncological indications, 55 for non-oncological indications, including 32 for rare diseases. This is a historic reimbursement”, points out the Minister of Health.
‘Zolgensma is a life-changing breakthrough drug,’ said Kacper Ruciński of the SMA Foundation.
The introduction of modern technology is possible thanks to the Medical Fund. The annual reimbursement of the Zolgensma drug alone will amount to approximately PLN 300 million.
“Parents of sick children have been waiting for reimbursement of the drug Zolgensma. The Medical Fund, which was established on the initiative of President Andrzej Duda, will continue to support Polish patients”, said Minister Grażyna Ignaczak-Bandych, head of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland.
In Poland, treatment of spinal muscular atrophy has been publicly funded since 2019. Poland was the first country in Europe to introduce universal screenings. Between April 2021 and July 2022, almost 282,000 newborns were screened. In 38 cases, SMA was diagnosed.
‘We are one of the few countries that offer universal screening and one of the 4 that offer comprehensive treatment,’ enumerated Professor Piotr Czauderna, chairman of the Health Council to the President of the Republic of Poland.
Another SMA drug that will be on the September reimbursement list will be Evrysdi. Poland is thus one of the leaders in the treatment of SMA.
Adrian Andrzejewski