- The Ministry of Health designates modern oncological treatment as one of its priorities.
- In Slovakia, approximately 900 to 1200 new cases are added annually, hundreds of patients die.
- In January 2026, they approved ipilimumab with nivolumab as first-line treatment.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Slovak Republic is fully aware of the seriousness of the situation regarding the incidence of kidney cancer in Slovakia. Ensuring the availability of modern and innovative oncology treatment is one of the priorities, as these therapies can significantly extend patients’ lives and improve their quality. The communication department of the department stated this for TASR in response to experts’ warnings that the incidence of kidney cancer in Slovakia is high, but modern effective treatment is scarcely available.
The Ministry declares that it is acting very actively in the matter. “Recently, we managed to achieve a fundamental breakthrough. We can confirm that in January 2026 a decision was taken and approved to include treatment with the active ingredient ipilimumab in the list of categorized medicines as a first-line treatment for adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Specifically, it is a drug with the active substance ipilimumab in combination with a drug with the active substance nivolumab,” it added, adding that the treatment will be available in the list of categorized drugs with effect from April 1.
“It means that from April this year this treatment will become available as standard for indicated patients and will be fully covered by public health insurance,” explained the department. He added that it is important for him to reduce regional differences in the availability of treatment, support prevention, strengthen early diagnosis and create conditions for expanding the reimbursement of modern treatment procedures.
Patrik Palacka, an oncologist at the National Oncology Institute in Bratislava, pointed out that the incidence of kidney cancer in Slovakia is higher than the average in the EU. There are approximately 900 to 1,200 new cases and approximately 350 to 450 patients die from the disease each year. According to him, thanks to modern effective treatment, it is possible to prolong and improve the quality of life for many patients, and some of them can even be completely cured.. However, according to him, the problem in Slovakia is that the patient has to pay for such treatment himself.
