The Combino Pharm award was this year presented to Stefan Cassar for his presentation on the study entitled Clinical Practice and Pricing Insights into Medicine Access Intelligence.

Through a collaboration agreement between Combino Pharm and the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Malta, the Combino Pharm award for the best Master of Pharmacy Presentation is presented during the Annual Pharmacy Symposium. Master of Pharmacy students present their final year dissertation as an oral presentation during the one-week research symposium. 

Cassar carried out the study by analysing real-patient case scenarios where there was a barrier to accessing a medicine. Fieldwork for the study was carried out at the Medicines Intelligence and Access Unit (MIAU) at the Malta Medicines Authority. 

The results showed that the most prominent reason for the inaccessibility to a medicine was due to the product not being available in Malta, followed by the price of the medicine. Out of 20 cases followed during the study, 14 were resolved positively with the patient ultimately accessing the required medicine.

The study indicated key priority areas that lead to barriers to patients accessing a medicine and validated the clinical interventions by the MIAU.