Te Pātaka Whaioranga – Pharmac will soon be seeking
competitive commercial offers for the supply of funded
Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) in New
Zealand.
“Today we have issued a Future
Procurement Opportunity for CGMs, insulin pumps, and
insulin pump consumables,” says Pharmac’s Director of
Operations Lisa Williams. “This is a preliminary stage in
government procurement processes which signals to the
supplier market, and New Zealanders, that we are getting
closer to considering funding CGMs and gives time to the
suppliers to prepare their pricing proposals.”
“We
have heard from people living with diabetes, their whānau
and the healthcare sector that CGMs are an important tool
for monitoring blood glucose levels, and we agree. Our
assessment of these devices, using our Factors for
Consideration and the advice we’ve received from our
Diabetes Advisory Committee, reflects
this.”
“Pharmac has said that we want to fund CGMs
for some time, subject to available funding. Significant
budget uplifts from the Government mean that, depending on
pricing offered by suppliers, we think funding CGMs may be
possible.
“We have completed our assessment of three
different CGMs for type 1 diabetes, and they are all on our
Options for Investment list. Details of our assessments of
the Dexcom,
the FreeStyle
Libre and Medtronic
CGMs are available on our application tracker. Suppliers
of other brands of CGMs will be able to participate in the
procurement process.
“At this stage, the details of
funding such as brand, eligibility criteria or a timeframe
for funding has not been determined – we realise there are
lots of potential options so will be looking for the best
way to achieve funding of these products for New Zealanders.
As our procurement activity progresses Pharmac will work
with the diabetes community and share more information with
the wider public,” concludes Ms
Williams.
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