Thanks fizzy,
Apologies - my use of language was poor.
What I should have made clear is that the drug has been approved by the relevant regulatory authorities for use (the FDA and its EU equivalent, etc.).
By not being approved in Ireland, I meant that the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) has decided that the drug does not represent sufficient value for money to be covered by the Irish public purse under various schemes (e.g. the drug payment scheme, available to medical card users, etc.).
Regarding private health insurance, my understanding is that there is typically relatively minor cover for prescription costs even in otherwise high level plans?
[I understand that it's a tricky balancing act for the NCPE. A separate debate - on a separate thread please! - is the value placed on life in different countries. In other words, the same data is available to all jurisdictions and in the case of this particular drug, the Canadian and French authorities believe that their citizens are "worth it" whereas the Irish and UK authorities don't! What price life?...…..tricky stuff!]
And so my question is that I believe one can access medical procedures abroad...….what about medication?!