Starting from December 1, insured patients in Romania will have access to dozens of new medicines, free or compensated, and to innovative therapies, CNAS announces.
New compensated and free medicines in pharmacies. PHOTO: archive
According to a press release from the National Health Insurance Company (CNAS), starting December 1, insured patients will have access to a significantly larger number of free and compensated medicines, in various medical fields.
The expansion of the list targets both innovative therapies and the introduction of generic and biosimilar drugs, which have the same therapeutic effects but cost about 35% less.
“We have expanded the list of free and compensated medicines for insured patients, who from December 1 can benefit from effective treatments with dozens of other innovative molecules. Specifically, we are talking about patients with neurological diseases, myasthenia gravis, endocrine and metabolic diseases, rheumatological and pulmonary diseases, as well as those with oncological conditions and rare diseases such as achondroplasia”. declared university associate Dr. Horațiu-Remus Moldovan, president of CNAS.
New or expanded therapies cover a wide range of conditions, thus
* Oncology: advanced breast cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer, non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), advanced medullary thyroid cancer, advanced or metastatic prostate cancer, leukemia, relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, uveal melanoma and biliary tract cancer.
* Neurology: treatment of migraine, epilepsy, myasthenia gravis.
* Rheumatology: psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis.
* Dermatology: atopic dermatitis.
* Pneumology: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), severe asthma.
* Endocrinology: primary hypercholesterolemia (heterozygous familial / non-familial), mixed dyslipidemia.
* Ophthalmology: neovascular macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema.
* Hematology: severe thrombocytopenia.
* Pediatrics: treatment of achondroplasia.
* Multidisciplinary areas: cardiology + neurology, transthyretin amyloidosis, essential hypertension.
* Gastroenterology: ulcerative colitis.
* Allergology: hereditary angioedema.
* Infectious diseases: new drug combinations for the treatment of HIV infection.
At the same time, seven drugs lost their exclusivity, which allows the introduction of generic and biosimilar variants, thus offering patients effective and more affordable alternatives.
CNAS data show that in Romania, generic drugs cover more than half of effective treatments (52.7%), demonstrating their efficiency in the rational use of resources in the health system.
According to the same source, in 2024, the total value of free and compensated medicines reached 23.6 billion lei, of which almost 80% represented innovative medicines and approximately 20% generic and biosimilars. The budget allocated for medicines in 2025 exceeds 26.2 billion lei, increasing by almost 11% compared to the previous year and by 88% compared to 2021.
