„We keep hearing that therapies for plasmocytic myeloma have been made available in Poland in recent years. How long are we to live in the past? Medicine is moving forward. We need access to new therapies and new regimens to prolong our lives!" Lukasz Rokicki, President of the Carita Foundation
Plasmocytic myeloma may be a chronic disease, but the potential of innovative drugs that can give patients a longer life is still not being realised in Poland. According to the report "Access to modern drug therapies in plasmocytic myeloma", produced by the Wiesława Adamiec Carita Foundation, strict criteria for drug programmes limit the possibility of using drugs according to their full registration indications. This situation affects poorer treatment outcomes for Polish patients.
Plasmocytic myeloma accounts for 1-2% cases among all cancers and 10-15% cases among haematological malignancies. It is a genetically variable disease, resulting in the acquisition of resistance to existing treatment and the need to change therapy - for this reason, access to new-generation drugs is an important aspect of the treatment process. Thanks to modern therapies used to treat plasmocytic myeloma in the United States, patients there live for up to 20 years after diagnosis, whereas in Poland patients have a chance of surviving for only three to six years. These disproportions can be significantly reduced by increasing the availability of innovative therapies that will effectively halt the progression of the disease, prolong overall survival and ensure patients' comfort and maintain their professional and social activity for as long as possible," asserts Łukasz Rokicki, President of the Carita Foundation, one of the authors of the report. - It should also be emphasised that some therapies do not require an increase in the budget for the current drug programme, as they are cheaper than those currently reimbursed and could be used instead of others, giving doctors and patients a greater choice of therapies.
The report "Access to modern drug therapies for plasmocytic myeloma" presents an assessment of the therapeutic options for Polish myeloma patients. It also includes a summary of drugs available in Poland and compares these to European standards, providing an objective overview of therapeutic options. Unfortunately, in a comparison showing differences in access to accepted treatment standards, Poland comes out worst compared to countries in the former Eastern Bloc. In the ranking we were overtaken not only by countries with comparable per capita income - Estonia, Slovakia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, but also by countries with a significantly lower GDP index - Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria.
The authors of the report stress that every effort should be made to ensure that decisions that take into account the needs of plasmocytic myeloma patients are made on an ongoing basis, as the disease does not wait. The Act of 31 March 2020 amending certain regulations in the health care system related to the prevention, prevention and eradication of COVID-19, has suspended the running of time limits for reimbursement proceedings until 31 August this year. We hope that therapies for the treatment of plasmocytic myeloma will appear on the September list. We desperately need them! - Lukasz Rokicki concludes.
The report "Access to modern drug therapies in plasmocytic myeloma" is available at Carita Foundation
(source: press release)