AIFA convenes scientific societies and organisations representing General Practitioners for 19 July as part of the "Technical Table for the revision of AIFA Notes and Therapeutic Plans".

Therapeutic Plans represent an important regulatory tool aimed at defining the conditions of eligibility for reimbursement of a medicine, setting the conditions for its use in patients also on the basis of the regulatory recommendations and constraints set out in the medicine's technical data sheet; Therapeutic Plans also make it possible to ensure the best conditions of use of the medicine in clinical practice, to protect not only the efficacy of the treatment, but also and above all the safety of patients.

At the same time, compliance with therapeutic plans by doctors also protects healthcare professionals, thanks to more efficient compliance with the regulatory constraints set out in the technical data sheet and/or the reimbursement of the medicine.

A further regulatory tool is represented by the so-called AIFA Notes, the purpose of which is to delimit the conditions under which medicines are eligible for reimbursement by the National Health Service with respect to the authorised indication. Historically, the notes were introduced in 1993, well before the establishment of AIFA, to provide indications on the appropriate use of medicines in clinical practice by general practitioners in territorial assistance.

Compared to the 59 Notes originally introduced, there are currently 39 AIFA Notes in force in the context of territorial care, and 144 Therapeutic Plans (including Therapeutic Plans and excluding those arranged by the Regions), which involve a total of just over 350 active ingredients (corresponding to 25% of the active ingredients authorised and reimbursed by the NHS).

"In compliance with the need for sustainability of pharmaceutical expenditure”, explains Pierluigi Russo, technical-scientific director of the Agency and member of the Scientific-Economic Commission, "it is necessary to use these regulatory tools in a balanced way, avoiding excessive use which could complicate patients' care paths. It is not enough just to streamline and simplify the use of the current regulatory tools: it is necessary to have a collaborative approach with physicians and scientific societies that allows AIFA to develop prescriptive guidelines capable of integrating the governance needs of the reimbursement of medicines with those given by the clinical and healthcare appropriateness for the patients”.

The work of the recently established 'Technical Table for the revision of the AIFA Notes and Therapeutic Plans' will fit into this perspective.