A decision by Pharmac to defer the approval of two new drugs for the treatment of diabetes until next year is worse than disappointing according to National Hauora Coalition clinical director Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen.
National Hauora Coalition clinical director Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen Photo: STUFF/ Alden Williams
Jansen has been an outspoken critic of Pharmac's original proposal to provide Empagliflozin and Dulaglutide for only 50,000 people with the condition.
It would have required patients to show they were at risk of complications such as heart and kidney disease before receiving the drugs.
Pharmac's board considered the funding issue at its latest board meeting at the end of last month and an announcement was expected this week.
In a statement on Monday the agency said it would make a decision on a proposal to fund the medicines in January and make an announcement in early February.
"We appreciate that the delay from the original timeline proposed has been disappointing. Consultation is a very important step in our process, and the time it takes to consider and respond to all the feedback we receive can vary.
"Consultation is an important way that we check that what we are proposing can be implemented by the health sector and that the people who will get the most benefit from the medicines will be able to access them."
In October, the drug funding agency's chief executive Sarah Fitt said it was looking at funding both Empagliflozin and Dulaglutide for 50,000 New Zealanders with the condition who had a high risk of complications such as heart and kidney disease.
Last month it announced it was delaying the decision so it had more time to consider the feedback it had received on the proposal, including criticism of the number of people who would be eligible for the medication.
McKree Jansen said it was disheartening to hear that Pharmac has once again delayed making a decision on the important drugs to treat type-two diabetes.
"I think it's very disappointing. It's inconsistent with their leadership responsibilities to delay it like this and it's inconsistent with their commitments to equity," he said.
"If they can't do the job, get out of the way. We need this done now, so this is worse than disappointing."
Figures released by the Ministry of Health last year showed there were 45,266 people registered in the Counties Manukau area with diabetes in 2019.
McKree Jansen's thoughts are shared by Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa chairman Dr John Baker who has previously said Empagliflozin and Dulaglutide were needed to treat the condition.
Baker works as an endocrinologist at Middlemore Hospital and said New Zealand was using drugs described as Third World treatments which manage a patient's glucose levels, but not slow their inevitable progression to kidney failure, heart disease and stroke.
He said Monday's update from Pharmac was a let down.
"It's not really an announcement at all," he said. "I'm not sure why Pharmac takes so long to do things. It's bewildering.
"I think the results of Pharmac's consultation process were pretty clear and good treatments are available. This latest delay is unacceptable.
"But my feeling is Pharmac simply doesn't have the money to do it."
Baker said Pharmac's original proposal would have excluded hundreds of thousands of people in New Zealand who suffer from type two diabetes from accessing the drugs.
Like McKree Jansen, he said they were important medicines and Pharmac should not put up barriers to access.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.