On the day of the sensory-experience café popped-up on Exchequer Street a new website - PatientsDeserveBetter.ie - was also launched to help those affected by MS demand quick and better access to new medicine.
New medicines can’t help if patients can’t access them: Irish people with multiple sclerosis (MS) are waiting for medicines that people in other European countries already have access to. This is because the Irish system for making medicines publically available is broken.
Once a medicine is authorised by the European Commission, countries like Germany make it available to patients immediately. In Ireland, the process takes an average of 348 days. In some cases it can take over 4 years. Patients deserve better.
People with MS can’t wait.
Irish people with MS need, expect and deserve quick access to new, innovative and effective treatments through a public system that is fair and sustainable.
The solution is a system similar to Germany’s where people with MS get access to medicines as soon as they are authorised by the European Commission. The State and the pharmaceutical company can then negotiate a price for the medicine but patients will not be forced to endure any wait for reimbursement.
If you wish to help people with MS get the medicines they need, you can send an email to the Minister for Health, your local TDs and members of the Oireachtas Health Committee, highlighting your concerns to them.
This initiative is a partnership between MS Ireland and Roche Products (Ireland) Ltd.