Cancer drug funding welcomed
National Health Spokesperson Dr Lynda Scott has welcomed Pharmac’s announcement that it will fund Glivec for chronic
myeloid leukaemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumour patients.
“I am very pleased that agreement has been reached so that these patients can have access to this drug, which has proven
to extend life and markedly improve the quality of life for patients.
“It is excellent to see Glivec finally being funded given that pharmaceutical budgets are so tightly controlled,” said
Dr Scott.
Dr Scott has called for Pharmac to fund Glivec for CML patients for sometime, after some patients who had access to the
drug free in a trial were faced with having to pay for it when the trial ended.