Rare Conditions Medicines Fund
Written by author on January 14, 2013
The Scottish Government is launching a fund to cover the cost of medicines for individual patients with rare conditions, which are not available for routine prescription.
£21 million will be invested to pay for the cost of medicines known as “orphan drugs”. These are medicines for illnesses which affect fewer than 1 in 2,000 people.
Only those medicines not recommended for routine use by the Scottish Medicines Consortium will be covered by the fund.
The new fund has been put in place following interim advice from Professor Charles Swainson who is examining the current Individual Patient Treatment Request (IPTR) arrangements in the NHS in Scotland, as part of the ongoing access to new medicines review.
The fund will be available from March this year through to April 2014 and will help to cover successful new Individual Patient Treatment Requests.
Health Secretary Alex Neil said:
“It is only right that Scottish patients with rare conditions have access to innovative medicines which are clinically justified and that they are not disadvantaged due to the very high cost of these treatments.
“I am therefore pleased to confirm today that the Scottish Government will establish a fund, which will ensure that the cost of successful new individual patient treatment requests for orphan medicines are met.
“This fund bridges the period to the establishment of next year’s value based pricing for medicines and any changes that are made following the completion of the ongoing access to new medicines review.
“We recognise that the Scottish Medicines Consortium is globally respected and has the fastest and most efficient medicine review process anywhere in the UK, but that for some individual patients with rare conditions there is a need for further support. This new fund will complement it by making the IPTR processes fairer.”
