Pharmac savings have been pleasing to see, according to the ministers responsible, especially enabling broader medicine access.
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac, David Seymour, and Health Minister Simeon Brown said they were are pleased to see Pharmac negotiating savings to increase medicines access.
"For many New Zealanders, funding for pharmaceuticals is life or death, or the difference between a life of pain and suffering or living freely,” Seymour said.
“Pharmac has announced its proposal to fund five new treatments for conditions including multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, eye conditions, and lung cancer. We are focussed on fixing what matters. Pharmac estimates that over 1,700 New Zealanders could benefit from the proposal in the first year of funding, rising to 4,000 by year five.”
Seymour said the impact of this proposal was huge, and the new subcutaneous injections are significantly quicker to administer than current IV treatments. If approved, it would save an estimated 7,500 hospital infusion hours in year one, and 12,800 by year five. This frees up health professionals to deliver other treatments.
“This is exactly what I’ve been pushing Pharmac to consider,” he said.
“Every year Pharmac looks for ways to free up money for new medicines. For example, the annual tender helps manage how much New Zealand spends on medicines by reducing the cost of those we already fund. Annual tender changes allow Pharmac to free up between NZD 30 million and NZD 50 million annually.
The proposal has included Faricimab for certain eye conditions, Entrectinib for lung cancer, Subcutaneous Ocrelizumab for multiple sclerosis, combined Subcutaneous Ocrelizumab with Trastuzumab for metastatic breast cancer, and ongoing access to Bevacizumab for certain eye conditions.
“My expectation is that Pharmac should have strong processes so patients, their families, and clinicians can have a say in decisions. This is part of the ACT-National Coalition Agreement. As part of the consultation, Pharmac will engage with relevant clinicians, the public, and advocacy groups,” said Brown.
“As Minister of Health, my focus is on ensuring all New Zealanders have access to timely, quality healthcare, and that includes the medicines they need.”
He said the Government’s record NZD 604 million investment in Pharmac is delivering on that commitment, with thousands of New Zealanders now benefiting from funded or expanded access to cancer and other medicines.
“It’s encouraging to see real progress in faster access to cancer treatment and other therapies, with even more medicines proposed to become available for Kiwis.”
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