Russians criticize Health Ministry's decision on list of vital drugs

RBC: patients criticize decision on list of vital drugs

test banner under the title image

The Ministry of Health has decided to assign the status of vital to only eight of the 23 drugs submitted. Among those rejected were two innovative drugs for the treatment of oncohematological diseases. According to Yuri Zhulev, co-chairman of the All-Russian Union of Patients, this again distances patients from receiving modern and effective therapy.

The list of vital and essential drugs includes vital and essential drugs, the prices of which are regulated by the state: they cannot be sold above the approved cost, regardless of the manufacturer. In addition, such drugs are purchased for medical institutions and given to patients free of charge.

Yuri Zhulev, in an interview with RBC, emphasized that the meetings of the VED commission once again demonstrated the existence of long-standing systemic problems that the patient community has been paying attention to for many years. He noted that when including drugs in the list, the main criterion is the financial burden on the budget, which effectively limits access to any innovative developments.

"We are convinced that the commission should not just assess the impact on the budget, but ensure fair access to effective therapy. Perhaps it is necessary to separate economic and clinical expertise," Zhulev said.

Doubts about the transparency of the formation of state lists of drugs have been expressed before. At the end of 2024, the co-chairman of the Supreme Court of Justice, Yan Vlasov, addressed this problem to the president, explaining that in order to ensure patients' access to modern drugs, they must be included in the VED. However, the commission often refuses to include even those drugs that patients consider extremely important, and the same drug can be considered several times and still not be included in the list. As a result, the president instructed to involve patient organizations in the work of the Ministry of Health commission forming the list.

The principles of compiling the VED were criticized by the People's Front and the League of Patient Advocates. In addition, the "Movement Against Cancer" sent appeals after the Ministry of Health commission refused to include four antitumor drugs in the list.

MK in MAX: main news - fast, honest, nearby