Filenews 23 January 2026 - by Marilena Panayi
A total of 105 specialized drugs, which were administered to patients through the time-consuming process of nominal requests, have been included in the List of Pharmaceutical Products of the General Health System in the last twelve months, after both the preparation of the protocols on the basis of which they are available through the GHS and the negotiation of the Health Insurance Organization with the pharmaceutical companies for reimbursement purposes have been completed.
Among the 105 treatments and some of whose protocols have been revised in order to cover more indications and therefore more patients. For example, in cases of oncology drugs that were previously covered by the GHS for one or two types of cancer (but based on the guidelines are granted in international practice for more species), the protocols have been extended and are now available to more patients through the System. In other cases, the protocols were extended to cover other diseases, while some protocols were revised to align with clinical guidelines.
The treatments that have now been included in the GHS concern various types of cancer, haematological diseases, kidney diseases, diabetes, neurological diseases, AIDS and other rare diseases.
These specialized drugs are administered to patients based on different and much more flexible procedures, which include the submission of requests for approval (which is given on the basis of criteria), but without trapping doctors and patients in the conditions for approval by the committee of nominal requests.
The process of including specialized medicines in the GHS is ongoing, as there are still several treatments for which the completion of the negotiation of the HIO with the pharmaceutical companies is required to determine the reimbursements. This particular negotiation, in fact, as has been emphasized several times by the Organization, leads in many cases to delays due to disagreements that arise with suppliers.
The promotion of procedures for each treatment is based on specific criteria with the main criterion being the number of patients who benefit from each drug included in the GHS. This principle, after all, also frees the Committee for Nominal Requests for Medicines, since with the exit of a treatment from its procedures, the requests submitted to it are significantly reduced, depending on the number of patients who need and receive it.
It is worth mentioning that several of these medicines have been included en masse in the GHS in the last three months, since it was possible, in some cases after many delays, to complete the negotiation of the Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Advisory Committee with the pharmaceutical companies.
The fact that "a large number of patients have been released from the time-consuming procedures of nominal requests can only make us happy", the honorary president and representative of the Federation of Cyprus Patients' Associations in the Medicines Advisory Committee of the HIO, Marios Kouloumas, told "F". However, as he added, "it is necessary to proceed at a faster pace in the adoption of protocols and to simplify the procedures in order to be able to include in the GHS as many specialized treatments as possible for the benefit of patients. As long as we have a large number of specialized drugs under the procedures of nominal requests, the competent Committees are burdened and patients are waiting for their approvals more."
The goal, said Mr. Kouloumas, "must be to eliminate the pending issues and to remain in the Committee on Nominal Requests for Medicines only the treatments that will be exceptions, either because it is a very rare condition or because it is a completely new drug, etc. This, after all, was the position of OSAK even before the transfer of nominal requests to the Health Insurance Organization when the EOA operated under the Ministry of Health. It must also be said that at the European level, the indications of medicines are constantly being enriched and the revision and promotion of the protocols must be done with the least possible delay in order to be followed by the corresponding change in the General Health System, always with the aim of benefiting the beneficiaries without delay. After all, we must not overlook the fact that every year dozens of new treatments are approved by the competent European Medicines Agency and we must always be ready, immediately after their licensing and marketing, to proceed with their inclusion in the GHS without a long period of time elapsing."
