ORPHAN DRUGS AND HIGH COST MEDICATIONS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Authors

  • Chuah SY Pantai Hospital Ayer Keroh, 75450 Melaka
  • Thong MK Genetic Medicine Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Keywords:

Rare Diseases, Orphan Drugs, Affordable Treatment, Non-Communicable Diseases

Abstract

There had been increased and strong public interests in rare diseases and orphan drugs as well as the issue of compulsory licencing for expensive medications in Malaysia in the mass-media and social media. We reviewed the issues of orphan drugs and the challenges faced in many countries in developing appropriate health financial modelling as well as getting accurate data on rare diseases. We also reviewed the old off-patent medications and the developments on how policy-makers can intervene to make expensive treatment affordable and sustainable for patients and the country.

Keywords: Rare Diseases, Orphan Drugs, Affordable Treatment, Non-Communicable Diseases

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Published

2018-12-31

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2 (2018)

Section

Research article

License

All authors agree that the article, if editorially accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 to allow others to freely access, copy and use research provided the author is correctly attributed, unless otherwise stated. All articles are available online without charge or other barriers to access. However, anyone wishing to reproduce large quantities of an article (250+) should inform the publisher. Any opinion expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not reflect that of the University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.