OBJECTIVES:

The entry of oral medications for the treatment of multiple sclerosis represented a great advance in the management of this disease, representing a global challenge in its financing due to its cost. This paper aims to show the increase in the participation of this type of drug administration in the context of social security in Argentina during the 2013-2017 period.

METHODS:

The trade union-run medical insurance that give treatment to multiple sclerosis patients can request economic reimbursement through a special fund for high-cost technologies, for which they must present purchase invoices for high-cost drugs. The study analyzes trade union-run medical insurance data on recoveries from January 2013 until December 2017, with a temporality of 2 years.

RESULTS :

The study collects evidence on 3106 patients in the social security system, 611 of which (20%) have switched the type of drug during the period under analysis. 567 patients (93%) had one change, while 44 (7%) had two changes of drugs. The most representative changes were Interferon to fingolimod (40%), glatimater acetate to fingolimod (17%), interferon to glatimater acetate (11%), interferon to teriflunomide (9%) and teriflunomide to fingolimod (6%).

CONCLUSIONS:

The real world evidence data of patients treated for multiple sclerosis during the period 2013-2017 shows a strong tendency of switch the type of administration of the drug from injectable to oral ones, representing a 74% in the period, while the change from injectable to another type of injectable was 18% and the switch inside oral ones was 8%.

CONCLUSIONS