Análise das demandas judiciais por medicamentos no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

The judicialization of health, especially in access to medicines, is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon that involves technical-scientific, legal, economic and social aspects, and may have different implications for public health. With the constitutional recognition of health as a right and the implementation of the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS), an increasing number of citizens have sought the Judiciary to guarantee the constitutional promise, and the number of lawsuits has grown over the years. As a relevant question, the theme of judicialization has been debated in several spaces: in society, in academia, by legal institutions and by health managers. However, it has not yet been possible to draw a national panorama of the judicialization of medicines in Brazil, with a marked concentration of research in the Southeast and South regions of the country. In this context, the aim of this study was to identify and analyze the lawsuits for medicines in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, describing the sociodemographic, medical-sanitary and judicial characteristics of the processes, making an analysis in the light of current drug policies and evaluating its possible interfaces with the process of incorporating technologies into SUS. It was conducted a descriptive, exploratory and retrospective, whose unit of analysis was the individual processes requesting medicines from the State of Rio Grande do Norte, between the years 2013 to 2017. The data were collected from the State Department of Public Health (SESAP/RN), and the information on the cases was collected through consultation with the website of the Court of Justice of RN. Nine hundred eighty-seven (987) processes were analyzed, in which 1517 medicines were requested. Most of the claimants were female (58.8%), residing in the interior of the State, with an average age of 48.3 years, represented predominantly by public legal assistance (52.8%) and with prescription from private medical services (38.1%). Most of the requested drugs (61.7%) were not incorporated into SUS, however, in 75% of the cases, there was a therapeutic alternative. In 13.6% of the actions, at least 1 medicine was prescribed for off-label use. Even the judicialized drugs that were part of the National List of Essential Medicines (Rename), were constantly requested for indications not recommended in official protocols. In 68% of the cases, access to the drug was available, with the author responsible for the purchase in 56.1% of them, through blocking public funds. The most requested medicine was insulin glargine (74 lawsuits). Drugs not available in SUS and frequently requested in court demands tend to be incorporated later, becoming part of health policy. Of the 10 drugs with the highest number of lawsuits, 4 were subsequently incorporated into SUS, mainly insulin analogues. Regarding the process of incorporating these drugs, it was observed that internal demands predominated (60%), and the minority had economic assessments (40%), the main justification used to support decisions being the presence of scientific evidence. However, a change of position was observed after the expressive participation in public consultations and the judicialization of medicines is mentioned in some reports. The results showed that the judicial system has been consolidated as a way of accessing medicines in Rio Grande do Norte, including by citizens residing in the interior of the State, who obtain free legal assistance. The most of the drugs requested were not yet incorporated into SUS, and these requests frequently violated health and Pharmaceutical Assistance management rules. The blocking of public funds for the fulfillment of these decisions is another worrying factor for the SUS manager, as it compromises the execution of the programmed medicines policies, which impair their execution. In the process of incorporating drugs targeted by lawsuits, it was observed that despite the preponderance of the technical-scientific basis in decisions to incorporate drugs into SUS, there was an indirect influence of judicialization in the decision-making process.