Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the approval rate of submission of new anticancer medicines in Brazil, in the private sector (ANS - the agency responsible for the supplementary healthcare) and in the public sector (CONITEC - the agency for the public healthcare system) and compare technology availability in both sectors.
METHODS: We evaluated submissions of new antineoplastic therapies between 2022-2024, with a final recommendation available, published in the websites from ANS and CONITEC. Approval rate was calculated considering only the final decision. Considering that some drugs could have been submitted in earlier years in one of the systems, we also searched the full list of submissions (without a calendar limit), to compare drug availability across the systems.
RESULTS: There were 35 appraisals for 27 different technologies for the treatment of 11 cancer sites in CONITEC. Most appraisals (N=23, 66%) were demands submitted by the Ministry of Health (MoH) itself. Positive final recommendation was obtained in 10 (29%) of the appraisals, with a higher positive result among external demands (industry or medical societies, 5/12, 42%) than MoH demands (5/18, 22%). Among the 25 negative recommendations, only two (8%) are not available in the supplementary healthcare system. In ANS, there were 43 appraisals for 32 different technologies for the treatment of 15 cancer sites. A total of 31 appraisals (72%) resulted in positive final recommendations. Of these, 29 (94%) are not available in SUS, most of these were not submitted to CONITEC (N=21, 72%), and the remaining had a negative final recommendation (N=6, 21%) or are currently in analysis, with a preliminary negative recommendation (N=2, 7%).
CONCLUSIONS: There is a huge disparity in access to new anticancer therapies in Brazil, where the circa 75% of the population who depends on the public health sector has fewer therapeutic options than the population with private healthcare coverage.