Drug subsidies
Thomas Lumley blogs at Stats Chat: There are new, very promising treatments for some cancers, which work by disabling one of the safety mechanisms in the immune system so that it can attack the tumour....
View ArticleHerald is right – leave it to Pharmac
The Herald editorial: Theirs is an invidious task, never more so than this week when it had to tell us it would not fund a drug for melanoma, Keytruda, that is being hailed as a breakthrough in the...
View ArticleHague is right
Stuff reports: Patients wanting access to groundbreaking drugs that are still being tested would get Government funding if Labour gets into power. Opposition leader Andrew Little said “by and large” he...
View ArticleHow Pharmac works
A very useful post on Facebook by Pharmac build members Jens Mueller: Let me see if I can help with some of the background to the discussion of whether PHARMAC should make its own decisions as to the...
View ArticleNational got it wrong
Stuff reports: Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has conceded the Government was wrong to override Pharmac and fund breast cancer drug Herceptin in 2008, as it comes under continued pressure to step in...
View ArticleSo is Labour still vowing to over-ride Pharmac?
Stuff reports: The makers of Keytruda have been forced to amend trial data given to doctors, after overstating the benefits of the melanoma drug. The ground-breaking new cancer drug is at the centre...
View ArticleLittle wants politicians not Pharmac to decide on drugs
The Herald reports: The Government’s message to melanoma petitioners at Parliament today is to wait for the Budget when Pharmac will almost certainly get an increase in its funding. It was still...
View ArticleMorgan says Labour a bigger threat to Pharmac than the TPP
Gareth Morgan writes: During the recent TPP furore, Labour made much of the threat to Pharmac from American drug multinationals. And now, just weeks after signing the TPP, the greatest threat to our...
View ArticleLittle claims to know better than nine senior cancer specialists
The Herald reports: The melanoma drug Keytruda should be funded here, Labour says — despite the head of Pharmac saying cancer experts here found no proof the drug helps people live longer. Labour...
View ArticleLabour’s policy would see fewer people helped with drug money
Stuff reports: Labour announced its policy in December last year, to establish a fund based on the Cancer Drug Fund in the UK. The UK example however, has begun dominating headlines in that country...
View Article$39 million more for Pharmac
Jonathan Coleman announced: An extra $39 million will be invested in 2016/17 to enable Pharmac to provide more New Zealanders with access to new medicines, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says....
View ArticleBet you Keytruda price is now a lot lower
Stuff reports: Patients and politicians who lobbied hard for the melanoma drug Keytruda to be publicly funded may be about to have their wish fulfilled. The Government’s drug funding agency Pharmac,...
View ArticleThe Keytruda deal
A very good article by Stacey Kirk at Stuff on the negotiations between Pharmac and Merck over Keytruda. Well worth a read to see how vigorous the negotiations are, and how Pharmac gets good deals for...
View ArticleAnother Pharmac issue looms
A reader writes in: Something you may be interested in, in light of your coverage of the controversy over funding pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in advanced melanoma. Pembrolizumab has gained Medsafe...
View ArticleUS wants Kiwis to pay more for drugs
Stuff reports: Accusing other countries of “free-loading”, US President Donald Trump has announced plans to make countries like New Zealand pay more for drugs. Speaking at the White House this weekend,...
View ArticleGovt votes no to breast cancer plea for a Pharmacy inquiry
The Herald reports: Labour and New Zealand First MPs have voted against a select committee inquiry into Pharmac despite desperate pleas from women with advanced breast cancer.Malcolm Mulholland, the...
View ArticlePharmac get a funding cut in real terms
The Herald reports: Opposition politicians have turned their sights on what they say is an embarrassingly small funding increase for the national drug-buying agency in a Government Budget that was...
View ArticleSurely five deaths is worth an inquiry?
The Herald reports: The National Party has intensified its call for a ministerial inquiry into Pharmac’s decision to switch its funded epilepsy drug to Logem – which is suspected to be linked to five...
View ArticleBattling for their daughter
The Herald reports: A couple’s 1300-kilometre bicycle journey to lay a coffin on Parliament’s steps has been stopped 20 metres short after an emotional exchange with security guards.Dunedin parents...
View ArticleThe Pharma comms disaster
A long and excellent story from Lloyd Burr who details how Pharmac lied to media in order to try and give an exclusive to one media outlet. Some extracts: During the phone call, I was told we had it...
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