Poland’s efforts to enhance affected person entry to modern medicines and diagnostics are yielding outcomes, in accordance with the newest Entry GAP 2025 and EFPIA W.A.I.T. experiences.
Whereas Poland has made measurable progress, challenges stay in some areas, notably relating to the provision of therapies for power situations and the pace of reimbursement.
The Entry GAP 2025 index reveals Poland’s rating rising to 61 factors, the very best in its historical past and a three-point enchancment over final 12 months.
Nonetheless, the W.A.I.T. report reveals that Poland has stalled, sustaining its twentieth place in Europe for entry to modern therapies.
“Broader and quicker entry to fashionable therapies helps higher therapy outcomes, reduces issues, and permits sufferers to steer longer, extra lively lives,” Michał Byliniak, Director Basic of INFARMA, advised Euractiv.
“This tangible progress in well being safety, now a pillar of Poland’s EU presidency, interprets right into a more healthy society and financial savings for the state funds—however we should sustain the tempo, particularly in power ailments,” he added.
Progress and challenges
The Entry GAP report demonstrates that Poland has made regular progress in enhancing affected person entry to modern medicines and diagnostics, now rating second amongst Visegrad Group international locations, behind the Czech Republic however forward of Hungary and Slovakia. Notably, Poland is the one V4 nation to have constantly narrowed the entry hole in recent times, whereas its neighbours have seen declines.
This success is basically because of ongoing funding in reimbursement and diagnostic infrastructure, together with a 95% reimbursement fee for molecular assessments and the very best regional rating for entry to superior diagnostics.
In oncology, Poland stays a regional chief regardless of a slight drop within the common rating for 4 monitored cancers (lung, breast, ovarian, prostate) from 67 to 64.8 factors.
It additionally recorded its best-ever consequence for uncommon ailments, with a rating of 72 factors, simply behind Czechia, because of substantial enhancements in therapies for spinal muscular atrophy, leukaemia, and cystic fibrosis.
Nonetheless, power ailments stay Poland’s weakest space.
The typical rating for power illness therapies reached 47.7 factors this 12 months, narrowing the hole by almost 5 factors, however nonetheless lagging far behind oncology and uncommon ailments.
Diabetes is a selected concern: regardless of a ten-point enchancment in diabetes remedy entry, many modern medicine stay unreimbursed, and the power illness rating is the bottom among the many three principal therapeutic classes.
The typical time from drug registration to reimbursement in Poland is now 1,176 days, in comparison with 2.3 years within the Czech Republic and three.3 years in Hungary.
Systemic obstacles
The W.A.I.T. research, carried out yearly by the EFPIA, analyses ready instances for sufferers to entry modern therapies throughout Europe. The most recent EFPIA W.A.I.T. Indicator confirms that Poland has maintained its twentieth place amongst 36 European international locations for entry to modern medicines. Nonetheless, the variety of reimbursed medicines has dropped barely, and the proportion of therapies out there with out restrictions stays low.
In accordance with this 12 months’s knowledge, 68 out of 173 modern therapies registered between 2020 and 2023 are reimbursed in Poland, giving sufferers entry to 39% of the medicines included within the survey, in comparison with the EU common of 46%. Final 12 months, 69 out of 167 therapies have been reimbursed (41%).
Poland stays forward of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic states, Eire, and Norway. Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless outpaced by Western European international locations, in addition to Slovenia and Czechia, the regional chief, at present ranked seventh.
Of the 68 reimbursed therapies in Poland, 85% are solely accessible to restricted affected person teams, and the typical watch for reimbursement, although shortened, remains to be among the many longest within the EU. The typical time from registration to reimbursement is now 723 days, 81 days lower than final 12 months. Regardless of this enchancment, Poland nonetheless ranks close to the underside, forward of solely Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Romania, Portugal, and Malta.
“After Poland’s historic leap of 5 locations within the modern therapies entry rating in 2023 and the continuation of this constructive development final 12 months, this 12 months’s knowledge ought to be seen as a warning signal,” Byliniak advised Euractiv.
Well being as an funding
Each experiences emphasise that enhancing entry to modern therapies isn’t just a well being coverage goal, however a strategic funding. As Poland presides over the EU Council and well being safety is one in all its principal priorities, it is very important do not forget that entry to fashionable therapies brings tangible advantages for sufferers, higher effectivity for the healthcare system, and a constructive impression on financial growth.
“Within the face of alarming forecasts about ageing populations and rising charges of power and way of life ailments, all these parts are essential for strengthening well being safety,” defined Byliniak.
“We must always use this chance not solely to stage the taking part in discipline for sufferers throughout Europe, but in addition to bolster well being safety and the resilience of our nationwide healthcare methods,” he added.
[Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire]
