The phenomenon of judicialization and access to high cost medications in Brazil: a systematic review of the literature

Abstract

The phenomenon of judicialization of health in Brazil is recent, but took a great figure in recent years, more specifically in the past two decades, as a result of lawsuits to compel the State to provide health facilities, goods and services, including the supply of high cost medications for the treatment of rare diseases. The objective of the present study was to trace the profile of academic productions on the judicialization of access to medicines for high cost in Brazil, analyzing the studies published in the last ten years on the basis primary database such as Google Scholar and Google Scholar, which segmentaram in works of secondary sources such as Scielo, Lilacs, Medline, magazines of Public Health, Fiocruz, Journal of Health Law, Brazilian Political Science, School of Public Health, as well as jobs linked to Federal Public Universities, and the (CAPES) - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, that comprised the sample analyzed. To trace this profile, we conducted a systematic review with theses doctoral dissertations, scientific articles and chapters of books. The sample makes 82 studies with a progressive production since 2015, in all regions of the country, with emphasis on the southeastern region, gaining wide  results showed that this demand causes interference in public policies affecting the health budget, but it is also a strategy for dealing with the problem. The profile of the academic productions focus on the focus in the area of health. The characteristics of applicants, the similar behavior in judicial decisions, and also about the percentage of the required medicines which have a therapeutic alternative - (79%, in addition to the difficulties presented by public bodies for compliance with these judgments.