Off-label drug use in paediatric haemato-oncology patients

Subtitle:financial implications and proposed solutions for Belgian patients

Treatment of children with cancer requires access to and reimbursement of effective drugs. Children with haemato-oncological diseases are often treated according to established treatment recommendations or in the framework of late-phase clinical trials. These often involve the use of drugs authorised for adults but which, however, have been used for many years in paediatrics with no perspective of authorisation in children. In Belgium, medicines are predominantly reimbursed based on their authorised indication. As a consequence, many drugs used in paediatric haemato-oncology are used off-label, despite their status of 'standard of care'. As reimbursement is often not available, alternative ways for funding need to be explored, which causes a significant administrative burden for healthcare providers and emotional distress for the parents. Solutions to organise a systematic reimbursement of standard of care off-label used drugs are described. Conclusion: A number of structural solutions are proposed, and we hope that they might guide health authorities to provide a solution to the problem caused by the lack of reimbursement of some standard of care medicines for children with cancer.

Publication year:2021

Keywords:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:yes

BOF-publication weight:1

CSS-citation score:1

Authors from:Higher Education

Accessibility:Closed