$600m boost to Pharmac to fund 26 cancer treatments
Monday, 24 June 2024
The Government has confirmed more than $600 million will go to Pharmac, estimated to fund 26 cancer treatments.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was “a really fantastic day for New Zealanders who desperately need those drugs”.
“We have been wrestling with how best to deliver this and there was a number of different tracks and ways that we can go about it.
“We've settled on a really, I think, a very important way which is delivering through Pharmac, but also want to acknowledge it yes, yeah, we know that there's a lot of work for us to do with respect to the fiscal situation in New Zealand.
“You are going to see us continuing to drive and push daily for more savings.“
The plan has been a focus for the Government since Budget day, which failed to provide any funding for the hugely anticipated National party policy, leading to a public outcry.
Of those treatments, up to seven from National’s original 13 promised cancer drugs would be included, “ and the others will be replaced by alternatives just as good or better”, Health Minister Shane Reti said.
“This means that not only will treatments for all the cancer types in the pre-election manifesto list be covered, but also a number of other treatments, including for blood cancers and other tumours.”
It would also include other medicines such as those for blood cancers.
The funding boost would also allow Pharmac to fund 28 other medical treatments.
“This will be a mix of new medicines and widened access to medicines that are already available,” Reti said.
It could also include infections, respiratory conditions, osteoporosis, sexual health, dermatology, inflammatory conditions and mental health.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the “one word that you didn't hear from Christopher Luxon in his post-Cabinet press conference this afternoon is — sorry”.
“Sorry for the anguish that his Government has created for cancer sufferers up and down the country while they waited for the Government to get its act together and deliver on a very clear promise that they made to those suffering from cancer at the last election.”
Patient Voice Aotearoa spokesperson Malcolm Mulholland said the announcement was “huge” and a “game-changer” in terms of treating cancer across the board.
“Out of the chaos has come good,” he said. “This is great news, whether drugs are specified or not, more patients will benefit as a result.
“New Zealanders will live long or live better, and that's something that's really hard to put a dollar value on.”
Mulholland said the clinicians at Pharmac were best placed to make funding decisions as opposed to the Government.
However, some organisations wanted certainty about which drugs would be funded.
“We don't know how many blood cancer medicines are funded within that 13 [treatments],” said Tim Edmonds, the chief executive of Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.
A report was going to be published this week about which medicines would have the most clinical benefit to blood cancer patients, Edmonds said, and he wanted to see those get funded by Pharmac.
Breast Cancer Foundation chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner said there were two drugs that would make “a massive difference” and have the same or higher clinical benefit than the ones the Government campaigned on.
“We will keep pushing so that women can have these treatments that will give them longer or better lives,” she said.
The $604m over four years was a “pre-commitment against next year’s Budget”.
Reti said some of the cancer treatments would be available from October this year, with “more” phased in over the next year.
Associate Health Minister David Seymour said expanding the package through the Pharmac model was “something that’s very important to me”.
“This approach allows the Government and Pharmac to act on updated clinical advice, funding new and more effective treatments which have superseded previous options.”
The Post revealed last week it was understood the Government is expected to announce a medicines boost of at least $600 million as a way of keeping National’s promise on cancer drugs.
It was expected Pharmac would be handed the money and will work down its drug funding wish list of 147 treatments until it reaches cancer drugs that are either the same or equivalent treatments to those that were on the list National announced during the election campaign.
The Budget announcement saw an extra $1.77 billion allocated to Pharmac over the next four years, but both Pharmac and the Government accepted that would simply maintain access to existing medicines and continue to pay for Covid-19 vaccinations.
The named cancer treatments included in this package is:
Atezolizumab with bevacizumab for liver cancer
Axitinib for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
Cetuximab or panitumumab for bowel cancer – first-line therapy
Nivolumab for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
Osimertinib for lung cancer – first-line therapy
Osimertinib for lung cancer – second-line therapy
Pembrolizumab for bladder cancer
The cancer medicines would include treatment for:
Lung cancer
Liver cancer
Bowel cancer
Kidney cancer
Bladder cancer
Head and neck cancer
Melanoma