On the day in which women’s health is celebrated, the Price and Reimbursement Committee (CPR) of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) has given the green light to the decision to make oral contraception free for women of all age groups age, with a total cost for the state coffers estimated at around 140 million euros a year. To bring it back is Health newspaperin an interview with Giovanna Scroccaro, president of the Cpr Aifa.
Green light always today also to the reimbursement of drugs for Prep, the so-called anti-HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis. “These are two issues that have long been in the attention of the agency – highlights Scroccaro – which required technical time to arrive at a complete evaluation” and the authority’s “green light”. “We wanted to complete them before the expiry” of the mandate and the arrival of the reform of the Agency, expected for the summer.
Prep, the pill to prevent HIV will be free: AIFA’s ok for reimbursement
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Specifically, in order to make contraception free in Italy «the least expensive products were evaluated within 3 categories of contraceptive drugs identified and divided by “generation”, which were made free. In particular, it was the Technical-Scientific Commission that divided the large number of contraceptives available to date by progestogen component, recommending that a certain number of products be made available free of charge for each different “generation” of medicines, guaranteeing a certain degree of overlap”.
«We – he continues – then analyzed those with the lowest prices. The cost estimate for the State is around 140 million euros per year, but this is an important decision, which will make it possible to expand the number of women who today, perhaps, considered the cost of these contraceptives too high and for this they used it. There has always been little use of contraception in Italy and this may now change. Furthermore, it is difficult to say, since there has been no price negotiation for these products, that a 25-euro pill is better than those that cost 10 euros».
As for the Prep (the molecules tenofovir and emtricitabine, currently paid for by the patient), “the decision to make it free was easier: the price paid by the hospitals that purchase these drugs has a minimal impact on spending, of a few hundred thousand euros . But since there is now important evidence that demonstrates how it can make a great contribution in terms of infection prevention, and if we also think about how important pharmaceutical spending is for antiretrovirals, we are making an investment in terms of health”. The pill which allows to prevent HIV infection in subjects at risk, “will be distributed through hospitals with a prescription from the infectious disease specialist. It will therefore not be available in pharmacies and to have it there will have to be an evaluation, in fact, by a specialist ».
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