The Andalusian Minister of Health, Antonio Sanz, denied this Wednesday that the Andalusian Government delayed the use of essential CAR-T therapies against multiple myeloma. His statement goes against what was stated by the head of the Hematology service at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital, which was known to the Government Council and which warned of the serious consequences of this delay for the survival of the patients. The popular leader has assured that the delay is not attributable to the Administration, but to “clinical criteria” motivated by problems of the patients for whom the therapy had been authorized.
“In Andalusia there has been no unjustified delay in the administration of CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma,” Sanz assured in his response to these reports and the deterioration in the health of the patients referred to in them due to the lack of administration of this therapy.
“The situations he refers to have their origin in strictly clinical criteria. National protocols require the application to be postponed when there are active infections, relevant toxicities or clinical conditions that can put life at risk. This is not a delay, it is patient safety. That is the difference,” the Health Minister stressed.
In the reports written by José Antonio Pérez Simón, as revealed by this newspaper, the delays caused by the lack of availability of therapy, called Carvykti, are insisted on. The first document dates from April 23; The second was signed on June 9 and the third on August 6. In the first of them, the Andalusian Government is asked for “emergency processing” for the acquisition of the newly authorized drug, to expedite its application in patients who cannot wait and in the others, the “delay in the availability of the treatment” is referred to and are illustrated with cases of the consequences that the delay in being able to have this therapy entailed for the patients.
None of the reports refer to the examples that Sanz has offered to justify that the delay was due to “clinical criteria” and in which it is assumed that the hospitals already had the drug. “We are talking about one of the most complex treatments that the health system has, which requires a very strict assessment, prior preparation of the patient and an individualized manufacturing process that lasts between six and eight weeks,” said the Andalusian counselor. “CAR-T processes are not comparable to conventional treatments, they require clinical selection of the patient; they require the extraction of the cells necessary for the treatment; they require the genetic modification of those cells in an authorized laboratory and the clinical preparation and, finally, the infusion of the drug,” he added.
found that the therapy began to be administered in Andalusia between two and three months later than in the rest of the communities. While the first patient to receive it did so at the beginning of June at the Salamanca Hospital, at the Virgen del Rocío – one of the three hospital centers authorized for its administration in Andalusia and historically a spearhead in research and use of CAR-T -, the first patient did so in September, as recognized by the manager of the Andalusian Health Service, Valle García. During that interval, the three reports demanding the acquisition of the drug were sent.
The Minister of Health has framed the questions about the delay in Andalusia in having a therapy of up to twice as long as in other communities in the political instrumentalization that the PSOE of Andalusia is making of public health to wear down the Government of Juan Manuel Moreno, an argument that has gained strength after the decision of the Andalusian Health System, requested by Amama. “Be respectful of professionals and stop tarnishing Andalusian public health once and for all,” he told Prieto. “These are individualized criteria and therefore it is the responsibility of health professionals who strictly comply with what they have to do and with the proper attention to patients,” he concluded regarding the application of the therapy.
