20 December 2022
Te Pātaka Whaioranga – Pharmac
has today announced funding of ustekinumab (branded as
Stelara) for people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
and the widening of funded access to infliximab (branded as
Remicade) for people with IBD-associated arthritis from 1
February 2023.
“We are pleased to announce that
ustekinumab will be funded to provide benefits in the
response and remission of IBD for people who meet certain
eligibility criteria,” says Pharmac’s director of
operations Lisa Williams. “We estimate that approximately
500 people with IBD will benefit from use of the medicine in
the first year increasing up to a total of 1500 people after
a few years.”
The decision to fund ustekinumab will
help people with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis
that have not responded to previous biologic therapies, or
where previous biologic therapies have caused intolerable
side effects.
“We are also happy to confirm the
widening of funded access to infliximab to treat
IBD-associated arthritis,” says Ms Williams.
“We
want to thank everyone who gave us feedback on our proposal.
We have carefully considered the feedback and made changes
to criteria to enable many people who are currently
self-funding treatment to access funded treatment as
well.
“We know that IBD has a significant and
ongoing impact on people who have it and their whānau. In
November 2022 we also announced funding for vedolizumab,
another medicine to treat IBD. Our expert clinical advisors
told us that funding both ustekinumab and vedolizumab, in
addition to infliximab, will enable greater clinician and
patient choice for the treatment of IBD.
“Following
the budget increase, we are working our way through our
options for investment list,” says Ms Williams. “In the
6 months since 1 July 2022 we’ve already implemented 35
new funding decisions, covering 16 new treatments and
widened access to 19
others.”
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