Michael Woodhouse - Health
4 February 2019
Pharmac’s ability to fund new cancer drugs would be much greater if the Government hadn’t cut $200 million from the
medicines budget, National’s Health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse says.
“A report put out by the Breast Cancer Foundation in 2018 showed the average survival in New Zealand after a diagnosis
of incurable advanced breast cancer was only 16 months, compared with two-to-three years in comparable countries such as
Australia, Germany and France.
“That’s why a visiting world authority on terminal breast cancer, Dr Fatima Cardoso, is supporting calls from breast
cancer patients for funding for Ibrance and Kadcyla.
“In Budget 2018, the Government cut $200 million from the cost of drugs we already purchase. Rather than use those
savings to invest in funding new medicines, they cynically used that funding from the medicines budget to pay for other
commitments. The Health Minister has admitted this.
“This cut was made despite the Labour Party’s election commitment to ensure New Zealanders get world-class cancer care
and to fund the sector accordingly.
“This funding cut is delivering closer to third world treatment and is a damning indictment on a Government whose
reality is the opposite of their rhetoric.
“Patients are dying or dying sooner than they should under this Government. The solutions are clear: greater
transparency in decision making, more timely decisions and the reversal of this terrible cut in medicines funding.”
ends