Disease landscape
Asthma
In the Visegrad Group (V4) countries, moderate limitations in access to asthma diagnosis and treatment were identified, as measured by the GAP indicator. The score for the Czech Republic is 70 points, while in the remaining countries it is around 60 points. The main drivers of the V4’s suboptimal performance are long waiting times for basic diagnostic tests, limited access to some of the assessed therapies, and a very low proportion of patients with eosinophilic asthma treated with the latest biological medicines.
Cross-Country
General GAP for Asthma
Compliance with guidelines
All of the most recently registered drugs for asthma patients are recommended by clinical practice guidelines. Almost all of them are financed to some extent in the V4 countries (about 80-90% of therapies are reimbursed), with the outstanding result of the Czechia, where public funding is available for 100% of recommended therapies.
From registration to reimbursement
Population burden
DALY* - Rate per 100k
*disability adjusted life-years
Target population
patients with eosinophilic asthma
Drug access
Number of patients treated (2024)
Drug access
Population treated* - selected drugs (%)
*percentage of patients with eosinophilic asthma
Main issues
- The average time to reimbursement for asthma drugs in the V4 countries is 2.1 years. The difference between the shortest and the longest mean time to reimbursement among the countries is 3.3 years.
- The uptake of newest biological drugs in a target population is low to very low in all states and it ranges from 11% to 30% in the V4 countries.
- Population burden in V4 states is much lower than the European Union average. The only exception is Poland, where the burden of asthma measured in DALYs is in line with the European average. Over the past few years, there has been a trend of a slight increase in DALY values for asthma in the V4 countries.
Project
We measured the gap in innovative drug access and diagnostics in selected therapeutic areas in the Visegrád (V4) countries (Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia).