Subsidy for 31 Innovative Drug Therapies Provides New Opportunities to Hungarian Patients

After a two-year pause, a decision was made to include new therapies in the social security subsidy system, while further 75 new therapies are facing decision

Thousands of Hungarian patients may have better life prospects after a decision was made again to include new therapies to the social security subsidy system following a two-year pause. As a result, 31 new medicines or indications will now be available under regular subsidy thanks to a regulation published at the end of December. Through the medicinal products newly included in the subsidy system, thousands of patients with diseases including various cancers, haemophilia, heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory arthritis or asthma may receive state-of-the-art treatments. With the current decision, Hungary is getting closer to catching up on the enforced and significant backlog caused by the pandemicin terms of the inclusion of new therapies in the social security subsidy system. There is every chance for this, asthe National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary has submitted an additional 75 applications for decision.

“The continuous expansion of the range of subsidized products is essential in order for the most modern globally accessible therapies to become widely available also in Hungary for the effective and efficient treatment of more and more serious diseases,”said dr. Péter Holchacker, director of the Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Manufacturers.The director also expressed hope that decisions on social security subsidy could be accelerated in the future, as it is clearly encouraging that the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary (NEAK), which prepares the decisions, has submitted more than 70 additional applications for inclusion in the fall of 2021. With the government’s swift action, these pending final decisions would provide new therapeutic options in more than forty indications for the large number of Hungarian patients concerned.

Dr. Péter Holchacker believes that the current decision on expansion has reduced Hungary’s relative competitive disadvantage in terms of access to innovative therapies. However, much smoother and more predictable decision-making on inclusions are needed in order for Hungary to become leader again among the Visegrád countries in this respect, so that as many of our compatriots as possible have the opportunity to receive the most promising therapy for their disease as soon as possible. The innovative therapies newly included in the subsidy system can be used in the following disease areas, among others: acute myeloid leukaemia, SCCHN – squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, non-small-cell lung carcinoma, lymphoid leukaemia and lymphoid leukaemia-IGHV mutation, asthma, certain gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, haemophilia, heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, asthma.