Incorporation of non-registered medicines in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS): a study of the recommendations of the National Commission for Incorporation of Technologies, 2012–2016

• Autor(a) principal: Pedro, Érica Militão
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Caetano, Rosângela, Teodoro, Cristiane Roberta dos Santos, Steffen, Ricardo Ewbank, Silva, Rondineli Mendes
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Vigilância Sanitária em Debate
• Texto Completo: https://visaemdebate.incqs.fiocruz.br/index.php/visaemdebate/article/view/1042
• topic: Medicamentos; Registro de Medicamentos; Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde; Tomada de Decisão; Sistema Único de Saúde; Medicines; Drug Registration; Health Technology Assessment; Decision Making; Brazilian Unified Health System

Introduction: Drug registration is an essential tool in assessing quality, safety and efficacy.In Brazil, the current regulatory framework prohibits the incorporation of any technology into the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS) without prior registration by the Brazilian regulatory authority, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa). The National Committee for Technology Incorporation (Conitec) advises the Ministry of Health on which health technologies should be incorporated. Objective: Conitec’s recommendations to incorporate non-registered medicines and their federal procurement between January 2012 and June 2016 were studied. Method: The study was based on the information from Conitec’s website and on purchases registered in the Integrated General Services Management System database. Results: Six of the 93 drugs incorporated by SUS during the period were not registered in the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa). The main reasons for incorporation of non-registered medicines were severity of disease, minor adverse events, and low budgetary impact. In 50% of the cases, medicines were already present in the SUS for the approved indications, but in presentations that made it difficult for them to be used in pediatric patients or situations of greater severity. R$ 3,159,085.96 were spent on the purchase of these drugs. Conclusions: The recommendation of incorporation of medicines not registered by Anvisa contravenes the legislation related to Conitec and the public acquisition of medicines. On the other hand, it is important to highlight the importance of drug incorporations that meet relevant therapeutic gaps.