Financing of patients treated with leflunomide

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic joint disease that affects over few hundred thousand people in Poland and requires constant treatment. The need for introducing modern therapeutic options is determined by the necessity of providing proper health-care to the patients who don’t respond to standard medication. Unfortunately high costs of these therapies significantly limit the number of patients to be treated. Several clinical trials proved the effectiveness of leflunomide in rheumatoid arthritis. In 2004–2008 the number of patients receiving this drug reached 2500 people per year, at 172 sites countrywide. There is a need for further lowering of its cost and simplifying the refund procedure as well as educating the medical personnel in order to provide this form of therapy to a broader group of arthritis patients. Current analysis of Polish health care data suggests that even at the present moment some more efficient ways of utilizing financial resources are possible.