The government is looking into procuring two new drugs for patients with multiple sclerosis that would be added to the formulary list “in a matter of weeks”, a Health Ministry spokeswoman said.
Times of Malta reported last week that MS patients set to switch to a new, costly drug in the beginning of the month were being denied it without being given any explanations.
The government had announced that people with MS would be receiving the pill-based Gilenya (fingolimod), which was promised in the last Budget, by April.
The first dose must be administered in a hospital setting where the patient’s heart rhythm is monitored for at least six hours.
Patients who were already on the drug have been collecting it for free since the beginning of the month. However, new patients who were to take their first dose at Mater Dei Hospital in the first weeks of April had their appointments abruptly cancelled. No further appointments were scheduled.
A few weeks ago, the European Medicines Agency approved new treatments for the management of MS, the spokeswoman said. This was in addition to the relatively new drug (Gilenya). The government wanted to ensure that the patients had access to the most current treatment.
The Health Department believed that it should be proactive and was acting to make new treatments available to ensure that multiple sclerosis patients got access to the most appropriate treatment available, she continued.
“We would like to empower the specialists in the area with more pharmacological tools. Fingolimod (Gilenya), has recently been procured and has already been made available free to those patients who have been established on it.
“Within a matter of weeks, additional pharmacological resources, besides fingolimod, will be available. Within the next weeks, clinicians will be in a position to manage their patients with a wider range of treatments. The 12 concerned patients awaiting the start of the new treatment have already been contacted personally.”
The government did not say which were the two new drugs being considered for inclusion on the formulary list.