Pharmac is under intense pressure from clinicians, health advocacy groups and patients to fund more medicines in areas as diverse as diabetes, cancer and rare disorders.
So how does it manage its medicines budget and arrive at its decisions about what gets funded and what doesn't?
- The NZ Buyer's Club
- Pharmac's secret list
- Pharmac switches epilepsy drug against Medsafe advice
- NZ diabetes drugs 'third world' - doctor
Guyon Espiner has been investigating Pharmac and sat down for an extended interview with chief executive Sarah Fitt, and she told him that Pharmac's fixed budget means it needs to free up money from existing medicines it offers in order to fund new medicines.
Watch the full interview here: