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On 2 December 2020, braving the wind and rain, Crohn’s
and Colitis NZ Charitable Trust led a march of patients and
medical professionals to the steps of Parliament. The
purpose was to present a petition with over thirty thousand
signatures pleading for funding of ustekinumab, an urgently
needed medication to treat people with severe Crohn’s
disease and ulcerative colitis. The medication, also known
by its brand name Stelara, is funded in over 35 other OECD
countries.
Today, Pharmac announced it has initiated
their consultation process to fund the medication,
anticipating it being made available to patients with IBD
who have failed to respond to other medications in February,
2023.
Dr. Richard Stein, Chair of CCNZ said.
“without newer medications, many patients with IBD,
primarily children, teens, and young adults, face a life of
debilitating symptoms, including pain and bloody diarrhoea,
often resulting in repeated surgeries and hospitalisations.
The impact on these patients, their whanau, and, ultimately,
the entire country is immeasurable. Many patients have been
putting important life events on hold, trying to postpone
surgeries in the hopes this medication would be become
funded soon”.
Belinda Brown, CEO of CCNZ, notes that
“there are over 20,000 people with IBD in New Zealand,
which has one of the highest rates of IBD in the world and
the incidence of these diseases is increasing. I want to
thank the entire IBD community who worked so very, very hard
to voice their need for newer, state-of-the-art
medications”.
This announcement comes on the heels
of the recent announcement that another medication,
vedolizumab (Entyvio) is also undergoing the consultation
process for the treatment of severe IBD.
CCNZ applauds
these recent Pharmac decisions. The ability to fund these
medications underscores the impact of better funding of the
agency.
The deadline for this consultation process is
4pm on Wednesday, 26 October 2022. Please
email consult@pharmac.govt.nz
with your feedback.
CCNZ would like to thank the
patients, their family and friends, and the medical
specialists who have supported the #wecantwait
campaign.
© Scoop Media
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