Health dept spending on Kaftrio from 2020

​Request 715697402​

Please confirm how much the Health Department has spent on prescribing the drug Kaftrio per year in the last five years?

Response

Total costs for Kaftrio prescriptions supplied through Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) over the last five years, from 2020 to 2024 (inclusive), are £858,577.

As the number of individuals accessing Kaftrio through independent patient funding requests in 2024 has been shared in the States Assembly, a breakdown of costs per annum is not provided, as this could enable identification of individual patients’ treatment costs, and consequently, unit costs paid for the drug. This could also enable the number of individuals prescribed in prior years to be discerned. Due to the small number of individuals prescribed the medication, individuals may be identifiable. Therefore, Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to protect the privacy of individuals, and Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to protect the commercial interests of HCJ.

Articles applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Article 33 is a qualified exemption and as such, HCJ has conducted a prejudice test as required by law. 

When responding to requests of this nature, HCJ has to balance the public interest with the impact that disclosing this information would, or would be likely to, have upon the organisation and / or third parties. Whilst it may be in the public interest to understand the costs of procuring medications and providing treatment, protecting the commercial interests of HCJ is an essential component in controlling public finances, which in itself is in the public interest.

It has been concluded that disclosing details the cost detail requested is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of HCJ and / or the supplier. When considering the application of this exemption, HCJ has determined that whilst it is in the public interest to disclose information, this is outweighed by the necessity to limit any impact on the commercial interests of HCJ and third parties in future supply and procurement negotiations, and as such, Article 33 has been applied.​