The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla has assured through social networks that the Ministry of Health will return to the Interministerial Commission on Prices of Medicines (CIPM), specifically at its meeting on the 26th, the proposal to include ‘Enhertu’, a highly effective drug against metastatic breast cancer, whose financing has been delayed for almost a year, in relation to the recommendations issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Padilla’s statements are in response to the statements of the PP’s Secretary for Health Care, Antonio Zapatero, who used the delay in funding for this medicine as an example of the “empty propaganda” of the Minister of Health, Mónica García. In fact, the PP already criticized this delay on the 10th in the Senatewhere she demanded through a parliamentary initiative the inclusion of this medicine in funding, together with Trodelvy. The request for funding “has been rejected up to four times by the CIPM”, said the PP senator, José Manuel Aranda. On this occasion, the minister did not clarify when the funding of the drug would be studied again by the Commission, but she did say that the medicine would once again receive attention from the Commission. “The Ministry is committed to ensuring access to all innovative medicines for all patients” and she recalled that the CIPM “is not only made up of the Ministry of Health, but also other ministers and representatives of the autonomous communities”.
The regional argument has also been used by Javier Padilla, who assures in his report that “the Ministry of Health has voted in favour of its financing.” The Secretary of State throws the stone at all the Autonomous Communities, especially Madrid, although only Murcia, Aragon and Castilla-La Mancha have a vote in the CIPM and wonders if the leaders of the People’s Party “They can assure us that they voted in favour, as did the Ministry of Health.” The question remains up in the air, as the secretary himself avoids answering: “I am not going to say anything, these are secret votes.”
While the social media duel continues, patients and professionals continue to demand that this drug be publicly funded. Right now, and unless there are any changes at the CIPM meeting, the issue will be discussed again next week. Currently, Spain is one of the few countries in our environment that lacks funding for a drug that could benefit some 3,000 people and that has been praised by professionals.
Two years ago, ASCO highlighted the success of this drug for people with HER-2-Low metastatic breast cancer. According to the data from the study presented at the world cancer event, this drug provides 5 to 6 months more quality of life to people who are given up for dead and reduces the risk of death by 36% and the risk of progression by 50% compared to treatment such as chemotherapy.
For experts, this drug is a spearhead for the treatment of tumors expressing HER2. It is expected that over the course of this decade, new treatments based on conjugated antibodies will strengthen the therapeutic arsenal and even become the basic treatment against HER2.
