To verify the implementation status of the dispensing of the new Sovaldi drug for the treatment of hepatitis C by the NHS. In January, only 30 patients in all of Italy had started treatment
Article published on: 12/02/2015 – adnkronos
Checks on the new anti-hepatitis super drug. Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin has instructed the Nas Carabinieri to carry out "urgent checks at the competent regional offices, to verify the implementation status of the dispensing of the new Sovaldi drug for the treatment of hepatitis C by the NHS". In fact, on 4 February the deadline for defining the administrative procedures necessary for the inclusion of the new drug in the regional hospital therapeutic formularies expired, for the expenditure of which a special fund was set up in the 2015 stability law with 1 billion euros over the two-year period 2015-16.
The Nas investigations began this morning, with inspections in all the regional capitals and will be completed in a few days. The results will be communicated to the Minister of Health by 14 February. As is known, Aifa - the Ministry of Health recalls in a note - certified in January that only 30 patients in all of Italy had started treatment. And he announced that even the regions of Valle d'Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Umbria, Abruzzo and Basilicata would not activate the drug dispensing program. Even the Epac Onlus association of patients with hepatitis C has reported that the regions of Sicily, Calabria, Molise and Campania have not identified the centers using the drug.
