The Government is committed to investing in new medicines. Budgets 2021-2025 allocated €158 million for new drugs. This has facilitated the introduction of 250 new medicines/ new uses for existing medicines, including 101 for oncology and 70 for rare diseases. As you will be aware, this investment largely reflects the initial in year expenditure associated with a drug approved in any given year - the actual budget implications for each drug approval are considerably higher over a number of years.
Budget 2026 allocated €30 million of funding available for new drugs to be allocated from the overall additional €217 million in funding provided this for the medicines budget. This has enabled the funding of 40 new medicines/ new uses for existing medicines, including 17 for oncology and 9 for rare diseases, for the period from January 2026-3rd September 2026.
There are formal processes which govern applications for the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, and new uses of existing medicines, to be funded and / or reimbursed. The HSE is the statutory decision maker for the pricing and reimbursement of new medicines under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. The HSE considers the criteria set out in the Act.
In terms of the specific details of the applications for pricing and reimbursement of Selpercatnib:
NSCLC
The HSE received a complete application for pricing and reimbursement on the 27th June 2025 from Eli Lilly (the applicant) for selpercatinib (Retsevmo®) indicated as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with advanced rearranged during transfection (RET) fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) not previously treated with a RET inhibitor (HTA ID 25035).
Further information on the progress of selpercatinib (Retsevmo®) through the HSE assessment and approval processes for the above indication is available via the Pricing and Reimbursement Application tracker available at https://healthservice.hse.ie/staff/information-healthcare-workers/pcrs/corporate-pharmaceutical-unit/ . HSE application ID HSE100050 has been assigned to this application
Medullary Thyroid Cancer
The HSE received a complete application for pricing and reimbursement on the 27th June 2025 from Eli Lilly (the applicant) for selpercatinib (Retsevmo®) indicated for adults and adolescents 12 years and older with advanced RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) (HTA ID 25034a).
Further information on the progress of selpercatinib (Retsevmo®) through the HSE assessment and approval processes for the above indication is available via the Pricing and Reimbursement Application tracker available at https://healthservice.hse.ie/staff/information-healthcare-workers/pcrs/corporate-pharmaceutical-unit/ . HSE application ID HSE100051 has been assigned to this application.
Thyroid Cancer
• The HSE received a complete application for pricing and reimbursement on the 27th June 2025 from Eli Lilly for selpercatinib (Retsevmo®) indicated for adults and adolescents 12 years and older with advanced RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer (TC) who are radioactive iodine-refractory (if radioactive iodine is appropriate) (HTA ID 25034b).
• Further information on the progress of selpercatinib (Retsevmo®) through the HSE assessment and approval processes for the above indication is available via the Pricing and Reimbursement Application tracker available at https://healthservice.hse.ie/staff/information-healthcare-workers/pcrs/corporate-pharmaceutical-unit/ . HSE application ID HSE100052 has been assigned to this application.
These applications remain under consideration with the HSE. The HSE cannot make any comment on possible outcomes from the ongoing process.
The Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme (NIPHS) has been in effective operation since 1 January 2021. This Scheme was introduced to mitigate the loss of access to care from private providers in Northern Ireland under the EU Cross Border Directive, which ceased to apply as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union. The current administrative scheme enables persons ordinarily resident in the State to access and be reimbursed by the HSE for private healthcare in Northern Ireland, provided such healthcare is publicly available within Ireland. The HSE provides further information on the Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme on the following webpage: www2.hse.ie/services/schemes-allowances/niphs/
