Pharmac | Te Pātaka Whaioranga is consulting on a
proposal to fund bevacizumab (branded as Vegzelma) as a
cancer medicine for more New Zealanders.
In September,
Pharmac started a competitive procurement process to ask
suppliers to bid to supply the main funded brand of
bevacizumab and to see if access could be widened so more
people could benefit from the medicine.
Bevacizumab is
currently used in hospitals for a condition affecting the
throat, called respiratory papillomatosis, as well as for
eye conditions.
Dr David Hughes, Pharmac’s Chief
Medical Officer, is pleased Pharmac can consider widening
access to bevacizumab for people with liver cancer that
cannot be removed by surgery, and for advanced ovarian
cancer.
The proposal also includes widening access to
another medicine, atezolizumab (branded as Tecentriq), which
is used with bevacizumab for liver cancer that cannot be
removed by surgery.
If approved, these
medicines would become available from 1 March 2025 and
benefit about 140 people in the first year of
funding.
Hughes says, “Now that we have
received bids from suppliers that could work within our
budget, we want to know what people think about funding one
main brand of bevacizumab for cancers and respiratory
papillomatosis.
“We have received clinical advice
from specialists in New Zealand and overseas on whether
people with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis could use a
different brand than they’re currenting using. They told
us any brand would provide the same health benefits that
they’re receiving with their current
medicine.”
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People with ocular conditions would be
eligible for any brand of bevacizumab chosen with their
health care professional to meet their health
needs.
The consultation is open until 6 January 2025.
People can provide feedback through Pharmac’s
website.
The Government provided additional funding to
Pharmac in June 2024 to fund new medicines and to widen
access to medicines that are already funded. The funding
boost covers medicines for both cancer and non-cancer health
conditions.
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