Minister of Health, Renato Balduzzi, according to the director of Pascale, if there were no national health service, only one Italian out of ten with cancer could afford the treatment, due to the high cost of chemotherapy. Agree?
“I think this statement is an irrefutable fact. On the other hand it is one of the great reasons for the existence and strength of our public health ».
Minister, is it possible that what happened in India could happen in Italy? Or that a drug multinational loses the case relating to the patent of an expensive medicine?
«I would not like to comment on a story of which I do not know all the elements perfectly. Rather, however, having read, precisely in the Mattino, the article by the researcher and chemotherapy professor, Silvio Garattini, I agree with him when he argues that it would be appropriate for drug multinationals to self-limit the scope of effectiveness of patents. Thus enabling poorer states to obtain expensive drugs at generic prices.
In your opinion, an effort by the international community is also needed to take charge of this?
"Certain. Drug costs are a serious problem in all countries of the world. And the national authority has few tools to counter the pharmaceutical industry's pricing policy. I believe that the time has come, at this point, to reconsider the European standards which provide for the release of a drug on the market, adding a further requirement to the usual requirements, i.e. quality, safety and efficacy".
