State to purchase medications for cystic fibrosis patients under Rare Disease Treatment Programme

The state Rare Disease Treatment Programme is being expanded. According to the Ministry of Health, the state will purchase inhalation preparations, antibiotics, vitamins and other medications for patients with cystic fibrosis. Funding for their inpatient care is also being increased.

According to the Ministry of Health, Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze personally provided information about the changes to family members of patients with cystic fibrosis; meetings were held in Kutaisi and Tbilisi, where these developments were discussed in detail.

They also discussed other significant issues for improving the beneficiaries’ quality of life. At meetings with parents, the minister drew attention to further plans in this direction. Mikheil Sarjveladze noted that the changes implemented in the programme were made taking into account patients’ needs, based on regular communication with their family members.

According to the minister’s statement, the Ministry of Health continues working on expanding the programme, including offering physiotherapy services and purchasing additional medications according to patients’ needs.

As paediatrician and professor Ivane Chkhaidze noted, such meetings are vitally important, where parents of patients with cystic fibrosis discuss issues significant to them directly with the minister and hear responses from him personally.

According to Ministry of Health information, under the implemented changes, patients will be funded for: antibiotics tobramycin and colistin; fat-soluble vitamin complex (A, D, E, K); mucolytics (hypertonic solution)—3% and 6%; combined preparation—ipratropium bromide monohydrate, fenoterol hydrobromide; acetylcysteine (mucolytic and expectorant); ursodeoxycholic acid (hepatoprotector).

“These preparations will significantly improve patients’ quality of life and help with disease management, preventing complications and improving treatment outcomes. Medication provision will begin in stages, in October and November,” the Health Ministry states.

Cystic fibrosis is a progressive hereditary genetic disease in which secretions produced by the body do not thin properly, resulting in frequent recurrent respiratory tract infections in patients. This is the second change implemented in the state Rare Disease Treatment Programme in 2025. In July, the ministry began funding treatment medications and investigations for patients with multiple sclerosis living in the regions. The programme’s total budget is GEL 55 million.