THE HEAD of the national cancer control programme has said she has no expectation that new protocols governing the use of oncology drugs will lead to savings on the amount spent on such medication.
The Government’s comprehensive spending review said clinical protocols would be developed for the prescribing of cancer drugs.
It said these would be aimed at ensuring efficiency, evidence-based provision and a controlled framework for prescribing. It said this would limit upward pressure on expenditure in this area.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Dr Susan O’Reilly said “by having a well-developed process you would have good practice guidelines, better outcomes for patients, better patient safety and – getting back to the comprehensive spending review – you endeavour to moderate the rate of rise in expenditure”.
However, she said: “I have made it extremely clear both within the HSE and the department that I have no expectation we are going to save money or reduce the spend on cancer drugs.
“That would be unrealistic. New cancer drugs are coming along all the time; they are all coming in at a higher price.”
Dr O’Reilly said €140 million to €150 million was spent annually on cancer drugs. About half of this was spent in hospitals and a similar amount in the demand-led drug schemes for patients in the community.
She said that while there were about 60 cancer drugs available, 11 of these were driving about 80 per cent of the total spend in hospitals. “By making sure you build the protocols around the drugs that are costly, you can endeavour to support using them in the appropriate circumstances.”
Dr O’Reilly said there was “a train coming down the track” in terms of the predicted incidence of cancer. This would present a huge challenge for the country. She said the Irish cancer registry had forecast that between 2010 and 2020 there would be a 50 per cent growth in cases.
