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On February 18, 2021, the Ministry of Health published a new list of reimbursed drugs, which will enter into force on March 1. Among the pharmaceuticals co-financed by the National Health Fund, olaparib, a drug used in women with ovarian cancer, was once again missing. Lack of access to this preparation could shorten patients’ lives by five years.
- Ovarian cancer does not have any specific symptoms, and there is no effective prophylaxis of it
- If it is detected in the advanced stage, there is no longer any chance of a cure. Medicines like olaparib are designed to delay relapses
- On February 4, Prime Minister Morawiecki wrote that the care of oncological patients is a priority for the government, and yet olaparib is not on the list of drugs reimbursed for 1,5 years
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
List of reimbursed drugs – March 2021 No olaparib
The lack of olaparib on the new list of reimbursed drugs has caused strong emotions in patients’ organizations. The Polish Amazons social movement, as well as the Blue Butterfly and Eurydyki associations prepared an open letter to Maciej Miłkowski, undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Health.
«Deeply concerned about the March list of reimbursed drugs, we ask the Minister about access to modern treatment for patients with ovarian cancer with a mutation in the BRCA genes in the first line. Ovarian cancer is an extremely insidious disease. Due to the lack of specific symptoms and effective prophylaxis, most patients go to the doctor in the advanced stage, most often with dissemination. This is the stage of the disease when there is no chance of a cure and the disease is then relapsing. It consists of consecutive relapses and disease-free periods that shorten with each subsequent relapse. About 70 percent. sick people relapse within three years! » – the authors of the letter write.
- Read also: Ovarian cancer is possible to live with, time is the most valuable here … Dr. Hanna’s story – hope for other women
The open letter states that in the case of ovarian cancer, the treatment strategy is based on delaying relapses, but also on increasing survival time. It could be up to five extra years with olaparib.
«Unfortunately, the next reimbursement lists disappointed us, the drug did not appear on the lists last year, neither on January, nor on the latest one – in March. Currently, many of our patients are successfully receiving olaparib as the first-line treatment as part of Emergency Access to Drug Technologies. As we have already said, in our opinion it is a >> prosthesis <<, because only a few centers are able to apply for this treatment. Such a solution exacerbates the inequality in access to therapy that has a huge impact on survival. Minister, we have been waiting for eighteen months for access to treatment that brings such a spectacular effect!«.
The fight for olaparib in Poland has been going on for years
One of the advocates of the fight for olaparib reimbursement in Poland was Kora. The singer of the Maanam group has struggled with ovarian cancer for years. In order to get money for treatment, Kora had to sell her property (a monthly treatment cost her PLN 24, and she had to take the drug for the rest of her life). On September 1, 2016, ru olaparib was added to the list of reimbursed drugs, thanks to the joint efforts of the Alivia Foundation and the Association for Fighting Cancer SANITAS.
Today, 2,5 years after Kora’s death, ovarian cancer patients still have to fight an unequal battle with the system that determines the availability of individual therapies. Drugs for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and Pompe disease have also disappeared from the new list of reimbursed drugs.
The number of malignant neoplasms is growing in Poland
On February 4, on the occasion of the World Cancer Day, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on his Twitter account that caring for cancer patients is a priority for the government. According to the Prime Minister, the Act on the National Oncological Network is to support the fight against cancer in Poland.
In practice, the situation of cancer patients in Poland does not look good at all. From 1999 to 2017, the number of reported cases of cancer in our country increased by almost 50%. 2020 could have been even worse in this respect, mainly due to less emphasis on early cancer diagnosis during a pandemic.
A disturbing trend can also be observed in the case of breast cancer among Polish women. In 2020, in our country, per 100 nearly 42 women died of breast cancer.
Also read:
- COVID-19 is responsible for less than half of the increased number of deaths
- Polish women die of breast cancer. Money from the government is not helping
- «Terrible tragedies take place behind the walls of the hospital. Nobody sees it »
- Tumors that kill fastest
- A trivial ailment or a cancer? 10 symptoms you should worry about
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