High-priced medicines: a human rights issue for global public health global public health

Abstract

The editors of the Revista del Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires offer our readers the opportunity to reflect on issues under debate in the scientific community. For this purpose, we have invited two prestigious referents on the subject with opposing views on the coverage of high-cost medication, based on a clinical situation, to present their positions on the subject. Below we share the reflections of Dr. Carlos García and Elizabeth Braga Menéndez based on the following hypothetical scenario:

A local health officer receives a request for coverage of a high-cost medication for the treatment of a degenerative disease in a 4-year-old child.

The medication is being considered for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has been shown to be safe and to significantly delay the loss of maturational milestones by 4 months, but does not change the poor prognosis of the disease.

The community is very affected by the family's situation, and the media are awaiting news about the case.