From September 1, a new SMA treatment program comes into force, all patients will be treated, there is no talk of excluding children, the drug program is not created by politicians, Wojciech Andrusiewicz, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said during a briefing. in the prime minister’s office. - The latest reimbursement decision further improves the situation of Polish patients and puts us at the forefront of Europe, assures prof. Anna Kostera-Pruschik is a neurologist who has been treating SMA for many years.
The press secretary of the Ministry of Health referred to the words of PSL President Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh about the “exclusion” of children from treatment and to a number of media publications on this topic that have appeared in recent days.
- They did not take into account the opinions of clinicians who treat this difficult disease. The new SMA drug program is effective September 1, which means that every child will be able to receive gene therapy if qualified by doctors. The National Health Fund will pay for each patient who will be treated, Andrusevich said.
He explained that the drug program was designed so that children from birth to 6 months of age are eligible for gene therapy because such a request was made by the manufacturer based on a registration study.
- We always rely on the research presented by the manufacturer. We cannot cynically “play” with the smallest children or talk about the exclusion of children, and this is how the behavior of some media or party leaders can be perceived, Wojciech Andrusiewicz emphasized.
Source: Wprost
