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2024 Medicines Budget Boost a Good Start but Over 600,000 Kiwi Patients are Still Waiting

The 2024 increase in the medicines budget has led to more funding decisions and a slight reduction in the time taken to achieve funding decisions, offering hope for improved access to modern medicines in New Zealand according to a new report from HealthiNZ.  Modern medicine access in Aotearoa New Zealand reveals that New Zealanders are still waiting far too long for access to modern medicines, including treatments considered standard of care internationally. 

 

“While the 2024 increase to the medicines budget has been a welcome effort to address New Zealand’s 30-year long underfunding of the medicines budget, this increase is only the first step to get patients and the health system the medicines other countries’ patients already have access to,” said Dr Graeme Jarvis, CEO of Medicines New Zealand. 

 

The report shows that the 2024 funding boost allowed a record number of applications to be funded. In total, 83 applications for both new medicines and widened access to existing medicines were funded, however that progress has slowed down.  Applications on Pharmac’s three ranked medicines lists have been waiting for an average of 7.2 years for a funding decision since they were first submitted. This is only expected to increase while funding decisions are delayed. 

 

This is concerning as 8 out of every 10 medicines funding applications on Pharmac’s priority waiting list - the Options for Investment list - are considered to be standard of care internationally. If fully funded today, the medicines (excluding vaccines) on the Options for Investment list would benefit more than 600,000 New Zealanders in the first year alone. 

 

“While it is encouraging that there has been a slight reduction in time to achieve a funding decision, we cannot afford to lose the momentum on other medicines yet to be funded, so that they can make their way to New Zealand patients and the public health system,” said Dr Jarvis. “We need to ensure that the recent budget increases are not the end of the story, but the beginning of sustained progress.” 

 

Modern medicine access in Aotearoa New Zealand is available now on the Medicines New Zealand website. 

 

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Medicines New Zealand is the industry group representing biopharmaceutical companies operating in New Zealand. We advocate for the benefits of modern medicines and vaccines as part of a high-quality public health system.