Sarb Johal • Oct 30, 2017 •
The first article in this short series looked at the scale and scope of the problem of increasing mental health related presentations in New Zealand. In that first article, I argued that ‘Capitalism with a Human Face’ can take its place in altering the settings of the economy in favour of the experience of those who live and work in it, … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Jul 28, 2016 •
Today PHARMAC announced their changes to funded vaccines. Basically they did what PHARMAC do, and within their given budget they negotiated the best deal they could with the suppliers to prevent as much disease as possible. After all, that is what we want them to do on our behalf. So who wins and who loses? The reality is, that like … Read More
Guest Work • Feb 17, 2016 •
by Dr Francis Hunter Reminiscent of the furore surrounding public access to a one-year course of Herceptin, PHARMAC’s recent assignment of a low funding priority to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for advanced melanoma has brought cancer drug funding back to the centre stage of national debate. Obfuscation from health minister Jonathon Coleman notwithstanding, the plight of metastatic melanoma patients … Read More
Public Health Expert • Dec 15, 2015 •
Professor Tony Blakely Keytruda, or Pembrolizumab, is a new immune inhibitor drug that appears to have pronounced effectiveness in slowing – even reversing – disease progression in patients with advanced melanoma. It has received much media attention in recent months, and even calls from politicians to over-rule the PHARMAC process (currently PHARMAC do not recommend funding). In this blog … Read More
John Pickering • Jan 24, 2013 •
Quite a coup this morning for a group of 8 sufferers of a rare disease to get a plea for Pharmac to fund a new drug in to both the Herald and the Press. I’ve since discovered that Radio NZ and TV3 have picked up the story. There are also some slick videos on vimeo.com These people … Continue reading » … Read More
Peter Griffin • Aug 22, 2011 •
A flurry of newspaper columns and editorials in the last few months have looked at New Zealand’s efforts to strike a free trade deal with the United States and the impact that might have on our drug-buying Government agency Pharmac. You see, the US apparently considers Pharmac as anticompetitive and limiting the ability of US drug companies to sell their … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Jul 16, 2010 •
The MacDoctor often refers to the pharmacy as the $3 shop (All funded script items cost $3.00). And, yes, patients often stare at him blankly, but one has to get one’s fun from somewhere. A recent Herald article claims that this fee is sometimes too much for low-income people causing them not to pick up [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Mar 09, 2010 •
I see an number of doctors are voicing their concerns of the government interest in a Pharmac-like organisation to take over hospital based purchases. Not without good reason, I might add. The Pharmac model has a major flaw. That flaw is that the model is based on the free availability of cheap “equivalents”. There is no [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Feb 24, 2010 •
I have finally managed to sit down and finish Gareth Morgan’s book, Health Cheque, Â on the New Zealand health care system (long international flights are at least good for something). I find most of Morgan’s books a little superficial for my tastes and Health Cheque is certainly no exception, lacking, as it does, any deep [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Dec 14, 2009 •
Pharmac is almost universally hated by GPs. The incomprehensible funding decisions. The endless “special authorities” designed only to stop you prescribing a drug. The sudden unexpected loss of control of a patient’s disease because of a change to a cheaper brand. The dwindling choice of drugs which becomes horribly apparent when you try to prescribe [...] Related posts: … Read More