Healthcare
AI
Estonia Adds Advanced Cancer and Rare Disease Drugs to State Coverage
Estonia's Health Insurance Fund has committed approximately four million euros in its first year to cover new medications for severe conditions, including advanced therapies for lung and cervical cancers, aiming to extend patient survival and improve quality of life.
- —Estonia's Health Insurance Fund (Tervisekassa) has added new medications to its compensated list, including treatments for various cancers, severe chronic conditions, and rare diseases, with an estimated first-year cost of approximately four million euros.
- —New cancer treatments include atezolizumab for lung cancer, pembrolizumab and cemiplimab for cervical cancer, pembrolizumab for endometrial cancer, and a combination of encorafenib and cetuximab for colorectal cancer.
- —Compensated treatments for chronic and rare diseases now include tosilizumab for rheumatic polymyalgia, teclistamab for multiple myeloma, and odevixibat for progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis and Alagille syndrome.
- —These additions aim to improve treatment outcomes, extend patient survival rates, and enhance the quality of life for individuals with these serious and often rare conditions.
Recap
Estonia's decision to fund a slate of advanced, high-cost pharmaceuticals is a strategic pivot towards aligning its public healthcare with top-tier European standards. This four-million-euro annual commitment signals a policy choice to absorb the significant expense of cutting-edge oncology and rare disease treatments, directly addressing previously unmet medical needs while simultaneously locking the national health fund into substantial long-term financial obligations.