Pharmac pharmaceuticals director Geraldine MacGibbon said both the drugs slowed the progression of disease. Photo:
Breast and blood cancer patients could soon have access to two life-extending drugs, with Pharmac proposing to approve them for public funding.
Ribociclib (brand name Kisqali) would be funded for certain types of advanced breast cancer, and midostaurin (Rydapt) for some patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Pharmac pharmaceuticals director Geraldine MacGibbon said both the drugs slowed the progression of disease, giving patients more time with their whanau.
The agency's clinical advisors recommended the drugs be funded with a high priority, but there had to be a consultation before final approval, she said.
Both medicines were already approved for use in New Zealand but patients had to fund them themselves at a cost of thousands of dollars per dose.
Ribociclib had been on Pharmac's list of possible drugs to fund since 2019. It was now proposed it would be used for people with HR-positive, HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. It could block the development of cancer cells, MacGibbon said.
Midostaurin was for patients with a particular genetic mutation, FLT3, which affected about a third of patients, she said. It counteracted the leukaemia's negative impact on healthy blood cell production.
Consultation on the proposal closed on 10 January.
If approved, the treatments would be available from July.