HIGH-COST MEDICINES AND THEIR JUDICIALIZATION PROCESS: MEDICINES FOR PATIENTS OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY

Abstract

This scientific article constitutes a study on the issue of supplying high-cost medicines and the judicialization of health in Brazil, especially in cases of patients with spinal muscular atrophy. The study addresses two main aspects related to the topic: the State's inertia in the face of the constitutional guarantee of the right to health, when providing high-cost medicines, and the principle of reserving what is possible, which argues that the supply of this type of medicine cannot harm the state's capacity to offer basic health services and inputs to the rest of the population. In this way, we sought to analyze the phenomenon of the Judiciary's role as a guarantor of access to health, especially with regard to patients with rare diseases such as, for example, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), which is part of a group of diseases characterized by progressive degeneration of motor neurons, being a disease in need of treatment, whose medicine, called Zolgensma, costs millions of reais and is not available on the list of medicines offered by the Unified Health System. As a result, the What happens in practice is the opening of legal proceedings by people with the disease so that they can obtain this medicine. To form a comprehensive analysis on the topic, bibliographical research was used on the existence of legislation on the matter and literature pertinent to these cases, with the aim of analyzing the phenomenon of the Judiciary's role as a guarantor of access to healthcare. , especially in cases of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.