Press release of the Federation diabetics Castilla La Mancha.

As no doubt you already know, the Directorate General for health care and quality from the Ministry has approved a document framework, which is intended to force public hospitals in the region to treat the patients suffering from diseases such as macular degeneration exudative ageMacular edema, diabetic and occlusion of retinal vein, with a drug that is not currently evaluated or approved for the treatment of these diseases.

The drug in question – known by his trademark, Avastin ® is a drug that, as I know them perfectly, not intended for the treatment of such diseases. On the contrary, the European Medicines Agency – agency official to whom our laws entrust the evaluation and authorisation of this class of drugs in the territory of the European Union – has just authorized their use in oncological diseases. If it wasn’t serious enough, it turns out that this drug has not been designed to be administered via intraocular.

Indeed, the technical document approved by the European Medicines Agency warns clearly undesirable consequences that it can be assumed for the patient being treated with this medication in this way.

The decision by his Ministry seems especially unacceptable because, as they either ignore, currently already exist in Spain a number of medications that have been evaluated and approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of these eye diseases and for use by intraocular via. It is true that these drugs pose a higher cost than that is Avastin ®, but let me remind you that they have been included by the Ministry of health, social services and equality in the pharmaceutical portfolio of the national health system, and this implies that patients in our region are entitled to access them for the treatment of their diseases. A right that the regional Government of which you are part is obliged to ensure, rather than hinder it with this arbitrary initiative.

The decision of his counseling, in short, seems to us totally unacceptable both from a legal point of view and from an ethical point of view. Our laws are extremely clear in this respect, and only allow a medication used in diseases for which it is not authorized in exceptional cases. In particular, when there are no other medications that Yes has been specifically evaluated and approved for this purpose. Nor much less, a whim of the legislature is not. It is not acceptable, in any view, purporting to subjecting patients to a treatment in quasi-experimental conditions, when there are other alternatives whose safety and efficacy in these diseases has already been evaluated and proven comprehensively.

We will be the first to recognize the difficult economic circumstances that passes through our country, and to which our region is no stranger, require a careful management of public resources. But we find it unacceptable that they intend to obtain such savings at the cost of endangering the health of patients and trample laws intended to protect them. We are confident, however, that end imposed the wisdom in this matter and that the Ministry of health and Social Affairs, whose policy is your responsibility ultimately think until irreparable misfortunes occur.