Price of Vital Drug for Immunodeficiency Patients Rises 30-Fold! | 3 Key Demands for Patients

The head of the Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Association warned about the price increase of a vital drug for patients with immunodeficiency, stating that the monthly treatment cost for one patient has risen from 1.9 million tomans to over 56 million tomans. The association called for price stabilization, full insurance coverage, and guaranteed patient access to treatment.

Warning of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Association of Iran;

The head of the Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Association, warning against the increase in the price of vital drugs for patients with immune deficiency, announced that the monthly cost of treating a patient has increased from 1.9 million tomans to more than 56 million tomans. He demanded the stabilization of drug prices, 100% insurance coverage, and guaranteeing patients' access to treatment.

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan, Dr. Mohammad Hassan Bamanian, the head of the Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Association of Iran wrote in a note to Ambassador Arjan addressed to the officials of the country's health system: Respected officials of the health system and mass media; The Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Association of Iran, as a specialized scientific authority in this field and in accordance with its human mission, medical oath and defense of patients' rights, announces its serious warning and deep concern regarding the sudden shock and astronomical increase in the price of the strategic and vital drug IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin).

IVIG is not an adjunct, palliative, or drug of choice for hundreds of children and young adults with "primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs); Rather, the only lifeline and breathing artery is their immune system against deadly infections. A patient with immune deficiency without receiving this ready antibody is defenseless against the simplest microbes, and stopping its use directly means severe lung infections, septicemia, hospitalization in intensive care units, and ultimately premature death. For these patients, there is no alternative medicine worldwide.

Unfortunately, in recent days, due to changes in currency policies and drug pricing, the price of this vital product has experienced a dramatic growth and several tens of times; In such a way that the monthly cost of providing 9 vials of medicine for one patient has increased from about 1,900,000 tomans to more than 56 million tomans.

Imposing such an unimaginable cost on the shoulders of families who have been suffering from the care of a chronic patient for years is a clear example of making life impossible and denying the right to treatment.

Documentary and field reports of the IVIG injection departments in reference and university hospitals of the country show that these departments, which used to receive dozens of long-awaited patients daily, have become semi-closed in the past few days due to the absolute financial inability of the families, and patients' visits have stopped in a very noticeable way.

The silence of these parts is not a sign of recovery of the disease, but a terrible alarm of the return of sudden infections and silent loss of life in homes.

The Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Association of Iran warns that the health and lives of citizens suffering from rare and incurable diseases should not be compromised by the economic mechanisms of the drug market. Therefore, this association strongly and immediately pursues the following demands from the honorable government, the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, the Food and Drug Organization and basic and supplementary insurance organizations:

1. Immediate Price Stabilization and Drug Subsidy Restoration: Immediate return of IVIG prices to previously payable rates or reimbursement of the foreign exchange difference through government sources.

2. 100% insurance coverage: Full and unconditional activation of the "Specific and Intractable Diseases Fund" coverage to compensate all IVIG costs in all valid brands in the country.

3. Ensuring stable access and monitoring the distribution chain: decisively preventing the supply stop, drug depot or any arbitrary price increase by importing and distribution companies, and facilitating the immediate clearance of imported shipments.

The doctors and professors of allergy and clinical immunology of the country hereby announce that if this blind knot is not opened in the shortest possible time, in the coming weeks, the medical community and families will witness an irreparable disaster and the loss of the lives of loved ones whose lives are connected to just a few drops of serum.