NZ Says No To Funding Hugely Expensive Cancer Drug
Pharmac spokeswoman Dr Dilky Rasiah today fronted a media conference in Wellington explaining that alleged cancer
wonder drug Herceptin would not be funded.
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Funding for the alleged cancer wonder drug Herceptin - the drug that was earlier this year the subject of intense media
hoopla - today ran into a brick wall.
At a media briefing in Wellington Pharmac spokeswoman Dr Dilky Rasiah explained that there was insufficient clinical
data to justify a positive funding decision.
The door remains open to funding Herceptin, but this would require better data, she says.
When asked by Scoop how a drug company could justify the enormous price tag for a course of Herceptin treatment (between 70K and 100K),
when the data fails to justify a positive outcome from Pharmac, DHB spokesperson David Meates explained that high price
drugs need good backing data.
"The back up data becomes even more critical [in the case of Herceptin] - with that size of investment we need to be
absolutely on solid ground that it is going to give us the health gains and the health improvements we are looking for,"
he said.
Listen to Pharmac spokesperson Dr Dilky Rasiah and DHB spokesperson David Meates explain the decision not to fund
Herceptin and later take questions from the media
Click here to download file (mp3)
ENDS