MADRID, 2 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Deputy Secretary for Education and Health of the PP, Ester Muñoz, has accused the Government of “denying” 20 million euros annually to finance two drugs that “would improve the quality of life” and “give more years of life” to patients with metastatic breast cancer, “in addition to the hope that new innovations will emerge that will allow them, perhaps, to stop the cancer.”
“For 20 million euros a year, they have refused to give them months of life that will allow them to see their children go to university, marry the love of their life, undertake new projects or live with a better quality of life,” said Muñoz at a press conference after learning about the meeting held on Thursday between the Minister of Health, Mónica García, and patients with metastatic breast cancer, which ended without immediate options for access to ‘Enhertu’ and ‘Trodelvy’, the only pharmacological alternatives for their disease.
“The current Minister of Health, Mónica García, yesterday, in the presence of all these patients, told them that there was no money,” said Muñoz, who insisted that, although “it is true that resources are limited and spending priorities must be established,” “Spain has never had more funding from the European Union, never have more taxes been collected by squeezing the Spanish people,” therefore “the Government has never had more money.”
The PP leader also criticised the fact that “the same week that we learn that the Spanish Government has agreed with Esquerra Republicana on 200 million euros in the first year alone for a plan to promote Catalan, the minister tells us that there are not 20 million euros a year to finance these drugs.”
Therefore, he reiterated, “it is not a question of money, it is a question of priorities” of the Government. “If a medicine works, as is the case here, because it has been proven and is being funded in more than 17 countries of the European Union, then what needs to be done is to implement it as soon as possible,” claimed Muñoz, who regretted that “Spain is at the back of the queue in terms of therapeutic innovation with more than 650 days of waiting for these medicines to be approved.”
PATIENTS WITHOUT OPTIONS TO ACCESS ‘ENHERTU’ AND ‘TRODELVY’
This Thursday, the patients met with Mónica García and the general director of Portfolio and Pharmacy, César Hernández, after delivering to them a few days ago nearly 90,000 signatures collected through the platform ‘Change.org’ to request that the National Health System (SNS) finance these two drugs that they need to extend their years of life.
The promoter of the initiative, Victoria Rodrigo, explained to Europa Press after the meeting that, during the meeting, they were told that, although their intention is to reach a price agreement to include these treatments in the SNS, there are also other agents involved in the outcome of the negotiation, such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business; in addition to the three representatives of the Autonomous Communities in the CIPM and the laboratories that manufacture these treatments, the AstraZeneca – Daiichi Sankyo Alliance and Gilead.
Thus, although they stressed their “commitment” to try to get these drugs authorized in the SNS, they reminded them that “not everything is in their hands”, since “these are very arduous and difficult processes and take time.” In addition, they pointed out that the reason for the rejection of funding for these drugs is due to an “economic issue” and they did not give them any deadlines or estimated dates for their approval.
She also said that García and Hernández informed them that there is a procedure for these treatments to be given during price negotiations, although “it seems that this is not followed” in the case of these drugs. For all this, the patients regretted having left the meeting without “an answer or a solution.” “The reality is that we still do not have access to these treatments and that the negotiation requires time that we do not have,” she warned.
The petition, which has already received more than 126,000 signatures, began on June 25, after the Interministerial Commission on Drug Prices (CIPM) did not approve the financing authorization for the treatments. ‘Enhertu’ (trastuzumab deruxtecan) is indicated for HER2 Low metastatic breast cancer and ‘Trodelvy’ (sacituzumab govitecan) for metastatic breast cancer with positive hormone receptors (HR) and negative HER2.
