Profile of The Judicialization In Pharmaceutical Assistance And Expenses With Antineoplastics: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study Based On A Set of All The Lawsuits Filed Between The Years 2016 To 2018 In of A State In Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Background: The judicialization of healthcare for acquiring medication is not an isolated occurrence in Brazil, it may also be observed in other Latin American countries, regardless of the existence of a universal health system, in Brazil, the Unified Health System. The search for justice, in terms of medications, has existed ever since the high demand for treating the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, while currently, the protagonist is cancer. Since pharmaceutical assistance is the area within Unified Health System, which is responsible for maintaining access to medications, the aim of this article is to describe the profile of judicialization in the pharmaceutical assistance of a state in Northeastern Brazil of economic significance, according to the characteristics of the lawsuits, regarding: the plaintiff filing the lawsuit; the medical and health information; the expenditure on acquiring the requested medications; and the relevance of spending on antineoplastic drugs. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study based on a set of lawsuits filed between 2016-2018 at the Litigation Center in the State Health Department of Pernambuco.Results: A total of 2,947 lawsuits were analyzed that contained at least one requested medication, with a predominance of males (51.7%); and in which 49.8% of the requests originated in the Unified Health System, and were primarily from patients in the Metropolitan region of the state capital. The most frequent ICDs for cancer were C61, C71 and C50. The median overall expense of the lawsuits was U$1,734.94. Considering only antineoplastic drugs, expenditure exceeded U$7,500 per lawsuit over the three years, given that the median unit price of antineoplastic drugs is approximately U$65.00 compared to U$4.00 for non-antineoplastic drugs. Conclusion: The present study is of relevance as a matter of public health, and how the profile of judicialization behaves as a tool for managing and improving decision-making in times of economic austerity.