A few days ago, the Price and Reimbursement Committee of the Italian Medicines Agency expressed a favorable opinion on a historic decision: to make oral contraception free for all women, regardless of age. And without restricting the opportunity to those who live in the Regions which under centre-left administrations have chosen autonomously to take charge of the reimbursement of the pill (Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Puglia, Lazio and Piedmont). The news, however, was not greeted with enthusiasm by all. It is above all pro-life groups about the birth rate that are trembling, with anger or concern. Like Massimo Gandolfini, of Family Day, according to whom the process of the pill “goes in the opposite direction to the problem of falling birth rates”. Maria Rachele Ruiu, of Pro Vita & Famiglia, echoes that “there is nothing more dangerous for women’s health than trivializing issues that impact their skin”. You give several examples, throwing them all into the same cauldron: “Abortion, contraception, gender and prostitution”.
The final decision
While an all-political battle is being waged on the issue, the next meeting of the Aifa board of directors is awaited. The incoming premiere is set for April 27, but the Manifesto remember that technical times will probably cause it to be moved to the May agenda. The green light from the AIFA Board of Directors is the last step necessary to activate the drug free of charge. Although the body would have no reason to oppose, considering that the economic sustainability, efficacy and safety have already been ascertained – with the approval of the technical-scientific commission), the definitive go-ahead is not taken for granted. In fact, the council, today chaired by the virologist approved by the Lega Giorgio Palù, is not formally required to respect the inputs coming from the technical bodies. Furthermore, his powers have increased following the government’s decision dating back to recent months to cancel the figure of the director general and unify the two advisory commissions. «The Board may not agree with the assessment made on economic sustainability and request a supplementary investigation. In this case, the case would return to the table of the Prices and Reimbursement Committee. And negotiations could begin with the numerous pharmaceutical companies that produce the pill on the share charged to the public service, with a considerable lengthening of the times”, he explained to the Manifesto Valeria Viola, expert in regulatory law in the pharmaceutical field. It would not be her, she adds, the first time: “It has already happened that the council rejected the opinions of the commissions to the sender”.
Read on about Open