• NICE – National Institute of Clinical Excellence (UK) recommends that Gilenya is made available to patients in England and Wales
• The once a day oral therapy is twice as effective as current conventional treatment1
• Gilenya – already available in the majority of EU countries – is still not reimbursed in Republic of Ireland despite being considered cost effective in September 2011.
• MS patient group calls for immediate access to the new treatment
The Department of Health’s delay in making Gilenya available to Irish MS patients was thrown into sharp focus following a decision by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK. This is despite calls for its immediate introduction from leading Irish medical experts and MS Ireland.
NICE recommends fingolimod for the treatment of highly active relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis confirming it as a valuable, innovative and cost-effective therapy. This endorsement means those with MS in England and Wales will now have access to this innovative first ever oral medication to prevent their disability from progressing.
Healthcare systems in the vast majority of EU countries have taken steps to make Gilenya available to their citizens including Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Spain, Norway, France, Belgium the Netherlands and Italy.
MS Ireland’s Chief Executive, Ava Battles, said: “MS Ireland believes that this disease modifying therapy would be an important addition to the choice of treatments available to people with MS. It is not acceptable that people with MS in Ireland have less choice of treatments that are capable of modifying the progress of their illness than counterparts in Britain and other EU countries.
”We have written to the Minister and the Department on this matter and anticipate it will be treated as a matter of urgency.”
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