March 02, 2021
Pharmac review lacking patient voice
A patient advocate says the way an expert review of government drug buying agency Pharmac is structured doesn’t give much hope for people waiting for new treatments.
Malcolm Mulholland from Patient Voice Aotearoa says it’s disappointing the panel does not include any patient advocates of representatives of the medical technology industry, because much of Pharmac’s budget also goes to medical devices.
It also won’t look at the size of the budget, which is a major impediment to the agency being able to fund new generation treatments for cancer and other diseases.
"I've already received several phone calls from patients with rare disorders and cancers in tears that they hold very little hope of medications they see being funded around the globe being funded here at home so that's very very sad and very very damning," Mr Mulholland says.
He says the review should look to the Australian system, where patient advocates and industry also sit at the table and the approach is far more conciliatory than here.
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