Medicines New Zealand has today released the 2022/23
edition of their annual publication New Zealand’s
Medicines Landscape. This edition sheds light on the
significant cost of ill health to New Zealand and reiterates
that New Zealand continues to rank last among the OECD
countries for access to modern medicines.
A new report
cited in the Landscape shows that New Zealand is in last
place amongst OECD countries, with Hungary second to last,
in terms of public health system access to modern medicines.
New Zealand continues to lag well behind countries like
Australia and the UK.
“New Zealand likes to compare
itself to Australia and hopes to be better than them. It
appears we need to lower our expectations when it comes to
modern medicines access- so it’s a case of ‘Goodbye
Australia – Hello Hungary’ for us and our Health
system’s access to modern medicines” says Dr Graeme
Jarvis, CEO of Medicines New Zealand.
The Landscape
also highlights that the over 80 medicines on Pharmac’s
Options for Investment list remain in a state of limbo, for
more than five years and counting on average, as they still
wait for a funding decision to be made. This is despite the
current Government providing some much-needed additional
investment to help try and clear the list of medicines –
many of which are standard of care in other OECD countries.
This creates issues in New Zealand with inequity of access
for patients, the health system, broader society and the
economy. The country is therefore missing out on the
benefits that the medicines could bring.
“It is well
established that medicines play a critical role in any
health system, allow patients and carers to go back to work
and help reduce hospitalisation which may help relieve some
of the hospital workforce issues. So it is somewhat
surprising that they are not better valued as a critical
tool within the health system and society here in New
Zealand.”
The Landscape also highlights solutions
that could allow New Zealand to catch up with our peer OECD
nations including the need for the development of a
fit-for-purpose, future focussed Medicines Strategy. The
need for a Medicines Strategy to be developed by February
2023 was also a recommendation from the Independent Pharmac
Review Panel’s final report. However, there is no sign of
that Strategy being developed at all. Instead, the country
is still waiting for it, just like it is for the many
medicines on the waiting lists.
The 2022/23 edition of
New Zealand’s Medicines Landscape can be found online here.
The
PhRMA Report: Global Access to New Medicines Report can be
found online here
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