Biologic drugs, including insulin analogues, were added to the recently updated list of essential medicines. These weren’t on the list, but should have started to be used in treatment long ago, said Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco. According to her, fully new medicines based on innovative molecules appeared, such as drugs used to treat diabetes in oral form or new oral hypoglycemic agents, IPN rapports.

In an interview for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service, the minister said the new medicines for treating different chronic diseases that are available now have a much faster therapeutic effect and this was essential in the treatment of cancers, in which Moldova was tens of years behind. Three dental preparations were included in the list for the first time.

Medicines for palliative care, including for terminal patients, weren’t part of essential medicines earlier. New medicines for treating such patients are now on the list. The doctors eager to apply new schemes, who are aware of the global developments, will be probably the happiest now.

“When we speak about purchases of medicines for treating different diseases within the national programs, these are coordinated with senior specialists of the Ministry of Health. When I mention those expert commissions, I refer not to Ministry of Health employees, but to commissions dealing with separate areas such as gastroenterology, cardiology and surgery, which include professors, who are actually leading experts in the fields,” stated Ala Nemerenco.

The list of essential medicines is a list based on which requests for purchases are made for hospitals and for budget-funded national programs managed by the Ministry of Health. The list of compensated medicines and the national therapeutic form are compiled based on this. According to Ala Nemerenco, the list of essential medicines should be adjusted once in two years so as to introduce all the innovations. In Moldova, this list was updated last in 2011.