This year, patients who suffer from multiple sclerosis may be left without treatment due to the fact that the government has not included the immunosuppressant Kayendra in the list of high-cost nosologies (VZN). This is reported by Izvestia with reference to the appeal of the All-Russian Public Organization of People with Multiple Sclerosis (OOOIBRS) to Mikhail Murashko, Russia’s Minister of Health.
In August 2022, the Ministry of Health approved Kayendra for inclusion in the VZN, but it turned out that the drug is absent from the list for 2023 approved by the government, the publication says.
According to the authors, patients will have to purchase the drug independently or seek help from the regional government. The cost of an annual course ranges from 800,000 to 1.2 million rubles. Due to the high cost of the drug, there won’t be enough money in regional budgets to provide them to everyone in need, experts believe.
The newspaper’s interlocutor from the government said that the VZN list includes five other drugs of the same group as Kayendra.
Roszdravnadzor previously announced that Russia has a six-month supply of children’s ibuprofen suspension.
