A total of 11 medicines to be given free of charge to patients of different conditions were this year added to the government’s formulary.

The new medicines are :

      • Temozolomide (brain tumour),
      • Pemetrexed (lung cancer),
      • Erlotinib (lung cancer)
      • Lenalidomide (leukaemia and multiple myeloma and other blood tumours),
      • Bortezomib (blood tumours),
      • Sunitinib and others (kidney and stomach tunours),
      • Docetaxel (prostate cancer)
      • Apprepitant (to mitigate cancer treatment side-effects).

Another 13 medicines were being given to patients according to the exceptional medicinal treatment policy formally introduced in the formulary. Another eight medicines which had already been on the formulary were approved for other climinal uses.

The formulary now had 1,316 medicines and the Pharmaceutical Department last year gave out €22 million worth of medicines, a 6.4 per cent increase on the previous year.

The pharmacy of your choice scheme was extended and there were now 28,730 patients on it, including 6,040 in Gozo.

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