Glucosamine excluded from the pharmaceutical benefits scheme

The Swedish Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits agency, the TLV, is excluding medicines containing glucosamine from the pharmaceutical benefits system. The cost is too high in relation to the therapeutic benefits gained from the medicines concerned.

Medicines which contain glucosamine are used to ease symptoms for patients with mild to moderate arthritis. Artrox and Glucosine are two examples of this kind of medicine.

Studies have not provided enough evidence that glucosamine provides a clear medical effect and the TLV estimates the cost to be too high compared to the utility gained. For this reason drugs containing glucosamine are to be excluded from the reimbursement system.

- Excluding drugs containing glucosamine is estimated to free up almost 70 million Skr per year. This money can be used in other urgent areas in the healthcare system. Our task is to extract as much health as possible for tax funds expended on reimbursing medicines. This why we carry out reviews of the positive list of pharmaceuticals, says Magnus Köping-Höggård, Medical Investigator at the TLV.

Starting the 15th of May the following medicines will no longer be reimbursed: Artrox, Glucomed, Comfora, Donacom, Glucosine, Glukosamin Copyfarm, Glukosamin Ferrosan and Glukosamin Pharma Nord.

The decisions, which come into force on the 15th of May, are part of the review of painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicines. The review is carried out in collaboration with the National Board of Health and Welfare as part of their remit to produce national guidelines for care of musculoskeletal diseases.