TFRD Urges to Address Drug Crisis

Following the spirit of social insurance, National Health Insurance (NHI) set up a special fund for rare disease drugs in 2005. Over the years, 59 rare drugs have been covered to care for 35 kinds of rare diseases. However, there are still as many as 20 expensive rare drugs that are waiting to enter the Taiwan market to be covered by health insurance.

The TFRD advocates for an additional annual health insurance funding for "gene therapy" under the Rare Disease and Orphan Drug Act budget. On the premise of not affecting the existing funding for rare drugs, an additional source of funding should be secured for the introduction of gene therapy for rare diseases to help patients have reasonable and timely access to treatment and medication.

In honor of Rare Disease Day on February 28th, TFRD would like to call for the public's attention to the issue of rare drugs. We sincerely hope that the government, the pharmaceutical industry, the medical community and non-governmental organizations will work together to safeguard the patients' right to live and demonstrate NHI's utmost care for life.

Translator: David Lee (Becker Muscular Dystrophy)