Patients with multiple sclerosis are growing increasingly frustrated over the government’s failure to make available a new and expensive drug, as their condition may deteriorate faster without the treatment.

In the last Budget, the government had announced that people with MS would be receiving the free, pill-based medicine much needed by those who have failed to respond to injected treatment (beta-interferon) or whose disease is severe and rapidly getting worse.

However, the process allowing patients to collect the Novartis-produced Gilenya (fingolimod), which costs €1,760 per packet, has not yet been initiated as no calls for tenders have been issued.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating condition in which the body’s immune system eats away at the protective sheath over the nerves.

This condition may result in a deterioration of the nerves, a process that is not reversible.

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