The Minister of Health, Ricardo Barros, presented a revision of Rename, which is the list of essential medications which the government must provide and stock. This recent amendment added 25% more medications to the list, including several related to oncology treatments. This medication listing will go into effect in 2018.

“Before, [Rename] was our own internal bureaucratic document, but we have now transformed it into a tool for customers, managers, professionals, and oversight agencies. It facilitates everyone’s access to information and, having that information, clearly people will seek to consolidate their right to access those medications,” affirmed the Minister.

With the increase, Rename will have close to 1,100 medications and supplies. The last list contained 869 items. The medications include the antiemetic propofol 10 mg/ml and oncology medications imatinib 400 mg and tamoxifen 20 mg.

According to the Ministry of Health, the proposal to include oncology medications was made “based on drug indications and their use in the country and worldwide” and in consultation with “the lists of essential medications published by the World Health Organization (WHO), clinical protocols and therapeutic guidelines in the field of oncology, and the medications indicated by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Commission (Comisión de Farmacia y Terapéuticas or CFT) throughout the country,” stated the head of the Ministry of Health.