Risdiplam, a drug for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, will be included in the list of vital and essential drugs (VED). This was announced by Olga Germanenko, the director of the SMA Families Foundation, on her Facebook page.
Risdiplam has been supported by the commission on the drug lists of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for inclusion in the vital and essential drugs list in 2022,” Olga Germanenko wrote.
The VED list now includes one drug for the treatment of SMA: Spinraza. It is injected into the spine through a puncture, which can only be done at a hospital. Ridisplam is simply diluted with water and can be administered at home. In addition, it is significantly cheaper: the cost of one ampoule is about one million rubles, and an ampoule of Spinraza costs eight million rubles.
To recall, Spinraza was included in the list of VED in November 2020.
