Disease landscape

Multiple Sclerosis

In the Visegrad Group (V4) countries, significant limitations in access to treatment and diagnosis of multiple sclerosis have been identified, as measured by the GAP index. At the same time, the results differ significantly between individual countries: while the overall score for the Czech Republic is 63 points, the scores for Slovakia and Hungary are 43–44 points. The main reason for the relatively unfavourable assessment is the long waiting time for diagnostic tests and the very low proportion of patients treated with second-generation sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulators in all V4 countries.

Cross-Country

General GAP for Multiple Sclerosis

Poland

51.7

Hungary

44.0

Czechia

62.8

Slovakia

42.8

High Medium Low

Compliance with guidelines

Positive recommendations for 12 multiple sclerosis drugs were found in clinical practice guidelines and almost all of them (9-12 drugs) are available to multiple sclerosis patients in every V4 country.

From registration to reimbursement

Population burden

DALY* - Rate per 100k

*disability adjusted life-years

Target population

Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators 2ND generation

Drug access

Number of patients treated (2024)

Drug access

Population treated (%)*
Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators (2g)

*percentage of the population potentially eligible for treatment with S1P 2G

Main issues

The average time to reimbursement for multiple sclerosis drugs in the V4 countries is more than 2.2 years. The difference between the shortest and the longest mean time to reimbursement among the countries is 1.9 year.
Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators’ reimbursement was implemented in 2021-2022 in V4 states an and in 2023 the share of the target population treated with these preparations remained very low (4-15% of potential patients) across the region.
Population burden in V4 states is much lower than the European Union average. A decreasing trend or stabilization of DALY values was observed in V4 states in past years.

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).

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