‘I need that promise’: Cancer patient fears for Government drugs policy

Saturday, 22 June 2024

Malcolm Mulholland, chairperson of Patient Voice Aotearoa, says the expected investment into Pharmac would be great news for people waiting for medicines.

Keep your promise: This is the message a woman with stage four cancer has for the Government as it prepares to consider a huge medicines boost to fix National’s bungled election policy of buying 13 cancer drugs.

Christchurch woman Vickie Hudson-Craig has tumours inside her heart and has been spending $5500 a month on one of those 13 drugs for more than two years.

“You spend so much time worrying about having to pay for the treatment that the actual illness becomes the second worry.”

The medicine she takes, dabrafenib with trametinib, has kept her alive, shrinking her stage four tumours by half. But she and her whānau are constantly in crowd-funding mode.

“I need that promise,” she said of National’s original commitment to buy the drug. “It's the only [drug] that's working for me.”

The Post understands Cabinet will consider on Monday a plan to inject at least $600 million into Pharmac, which would allow it to buy cancer drugs and other medicines.

This would mean politicians would be at arm’s length from final decisions, but it leaves questions about exactly which medicines would eventuate.

Hudson-Craig said she would support a plan that would allow the same drugs on National’s list, if not more effective ones, to be purchased. But for her, the medicine she is taking is her only choice.

“Because of this drug I get to live a normal life.”

Vickie Hudson-Craig has cancerous tumours in her heart. She needs the Government to pay for the drug that was promised.

Malcolm Mulholland, chairperson of Patient Voice Aotearoa, said the expected investment would excite a great deal of the 330,000 patients who would benefit from the medicines on Pharmac’s wish list.

“You look at it and you go, this is good … it won’t be just those who need those 13 cancer meds. There will be other cancer patients who benefit.”

The Prime Minister’s office would not comment on the leaked information but has not denied anything in The Post’s initial story.

NZ First leader Winston Peters wouldn’t be drawn on the announcement, saying it would be “speaking out of turn”. His party remained committed to its coalition agreement, which included increasing Pharmac’s funding each year.

Neither the PM nor his collation party leaders have denied The Post’s original story.

“We promised we were going to get more money for Pharmac and we will,” Peters said.

ACT leader David Seymour, also the minister responsible for Pharmac, would not comment on “alleged leaks”.

“I respect the Cabinet process and believe the most important thing here is the outcome for patients.”

Previously, he has vowed to protect the independence of Pharmac, while referring to the policy as a National Party “problem” — but one that could be solved.

The National Party’s original policy had excited cancer patients who needed specific drugs, but it had created a dilemma, Mulholland said.

“Clearly, they [National] hadn't thought through how they were going to implement the policy and in particular, how they were going to preserve Pharmac’s independence.

Patient advocate Malcolm Mulholland says it appears good will come from the chaos of National’s original promise.

“I think out of the chaos, has come good.”

Mulholland said he was comfortable with Pharmac making the final call, “so long as we know that those drugs are either the same or better [than the original 13]. They can’t be worse”.

The potential to stray from the original list of 13 drugs would give breast cancer patients hope, since they were not represented on the original list, Ah-Leen Rayner, chief executive of Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, said.

“The same or better is something we would endorse.

“It means we can look at what’s the best drug for patients rather than named drugs,” Rayner said.

There were two treatments for incurable breast cancer on Pharmac's wish list – Keytruda and Enhertu — that were proven to extend lives. “It's critical these are both given a high priority so Kiwis can access them urgently,” Rayner said.

She said $600m would be “a good start” but called for speed in the Pharmac decision making process.

Blood cancer patients, who were excluded from National’s original list, were still awaiting certainty that they would be represented, said Tim Edmonds, chief executive of Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ.

“We expect the announcement to provide that certainty.“

Pharmac and the Cancer Control Agency again declined to comment on Friday.