The Marie Keating Foundation welcomes the announcement by Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill on a new agreement between the State and the pharmaceutical sector aimed at reducing delays in medicines reimbursement and improving patient access to new medicines in Ireland.

Reimbursement is the decision on whether a new medicine will be funded by the State, allowing patients to access it through the public health system rather than having to pay privately.

Liz Yeates, CEO of the Marie Keating Foundation, said:

“For people affected by cancer, access to effective and innovative medicines is, quite simply, a matter of time. Earlier access can make a real difference, shaping outcomes and quality of life for patients and families. In that context, the focus on achieving reimbursement decisions within 180 days represents a significant and long-overdue step forward.”

We particularly welcome:

• A structured approach to achieving a 180-day reimbursement timeline
• Increased capacity within the Health Service Executive Drugs Group to support delivery
• Greater clarity and predictability across the assessment and reimbursement process

This progress must be viewed against the reality patients have experienced to date.

Recent data shows that until now, it has taken an average of 729 days for new medicines to move from application to availability for patients in Ireland – more than four times longer than the timeline set out in current legislation. For people affected by cancer, this has meant prolonged and avoidable delays in accessing medicines that are already available to patients publicly in other European countries.

For that reason, the real test of these changes will be delivery.

Liz continued: “What matters now is embedding these timelines in practice, ensuring transparency and involving patients and clinicians meaningfully as changes are implemented.”

From a patient perspective, the next phase must focus on:

• Making the 180-day timeline a dependable standard, not an aspiration
• Transparent monitoring and reporting of progress
• Meaningful patient and clinician involvement in system design and implementation
• Ensuring that any future access initiatives genuinely address unmet need, particularly for people with cancer facing urgent treatment decisions

The agreements also refers to an intention to explore the development of a small-scale early access programme.

An early access programme matters because it can allow people with life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions such as cancer to use new medicines once they are approved at European level, but before national funding decisions are completed.

This is important because, until a medicine is funded by the State, most people in the public health system simply cannot access it.

Ireland is now the only country in Western Europe without a formal early access programme. This means longer waits, more uncertainty and lost time – time that can make all the difference for people diagnosed with cancer.

The new agreement between the Department of Health, the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) and Medicines for Ireland creates a real opportunity to close that gap — but only if the commitments set out are delivered in practice and properly resourced over time.