Health Minister pledges state to obtain achondroplasia drug if EU states approve financing for medication

Georgian Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili on Friday told parents of children diagnosed with achondroplasia the state would obtain the experimental drug Vosoritide for the condition if a number of European Union member states financed the medication by September.

Azarashvili’s meeting with the parents came after months of requests for the Government to introduce and finance the drug in Georgia. The medication is expensive, with a year’s worth of dose costing $200,000. 

It is designed to treat the rare disease characterised by growth retardation in height of patients. People with the illness have a normal life expectancy and intelligence, despite the delay in their physical growth.

The Minister met parents of the kids diagnosed with achondroplasia. Photo: Ministry of Health

The Health Ministry cited the official as saying the Government would take “unconditional guarantee” to obtain Vosoritide if there was financial backing from several EU states for the drug, telling the parents Georgia would become “one of the countries in the world to pioneer this responsibility and carry out necessary procedures for the purchase of the drug”.

He also said governments were being “careful” with financing the medical product due to a “lack of information” regarding it, even if authorities had authorised it.

Azarashvili also confirmed the Government was ready to finance diagnosis and treatment of children with other concomitant diseases, both in Georgia and abroad.