The Government is committed to investing in medicines. Budgets 2021-2025 allocated an additional €158 million for new drugs, which has facilitated the introduction of 263 new medicines, to date. The Year 1 cost of a new drug comes from the allocation for new medicines, but it should be noted that once these medicines are approved for reimbursement the full cost of providing them can reach multiples of this initial cost as their uptake increases.
Budget 2026 allocated €217 million in additional funding for drugs, with €30 million of this allocated for new drugs funding.
A central component of pharmaceutical expenditure is the HSE’s pricing and reimbursement process for medicines. Under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, the HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines and medical devices. To commence the pricing and reimbursement process, a pharmaceutical company must submit an application for a new medicine or a new use of an existing medicine to the HSE’s Corporate Pharmaceutical Unit. European Medicines Agency (EMA) or Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) authorisation is required for the medicine prior to submission to the HSE for reimbursement as reimbursement only applies to licensed uses (indications) of the medicine.
Applicants must continue to engage through-out the process to ensure that the necessary evidence is available for the HSE to carry out its statutory role as a decision-maker with respect to the reimbursement of new medicines, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013.
As the HSE is the statutory decision maker, I have asked them for an update on omaveloxolone (Skyclarys®). The NCPE HTA Report was received by the HSE on the 16th December 2025, including submissions made by patient organisations. These submissions will form part of the data that the HSE considers.
The HSE invited the marketing authorisation holder, Biogen (Idec) Ireland Limited, to commence price negotiations and offered a range of dates to the company. The HSE have advised this meeting took place on the 12th February 2026, and as of April 16th a commercial proposal from the company remains outstanding.
This application remains under consideration with the HSE. The HSE cannot make any comment on possible outcomes from the ongoing process.
