Relief As New Bowel Cancer Drugs Announced

Years of advocacy from Bowel Cancer New Zealand (NZ) and
other groups calling for new bowel cancer drugs has led to a
funding announcement from Pharmac for two new medicines,
cetuximab (Erbitux) and pembrolizumab
(Keytruda). 

Rebekah Heal, general manager of
Bowel Cancer NZ says, “This is fantastic news and
acknowledgement of all the hard mahi by our bowel cancer
community. We celebrate this milestone while also
acknowledging all those who bravely fought alongside us and
aren’t here today.” 

After pressure from
patients and advocacy groups, the government delivered on
the promised funding boost for Pharmac, with an extra $604
million guaranteed over the next four years towards 54 new
drugs. 

“There’s no doubt it’s a relief to
see these drugs announced as they will be the first bowel
cancer medicines funded in over 20 years. This will help
relieve some of the enormous financial burden so many bowel
cancer patients are shouldering. It’s also evident just
how underfunded Pharmac has been until now,” says
Heal. 

Keytruda will be available from October
1st as a funded treatment option for Lynch Syndrome bowel
cancer patients. A date has yet to be set for cetuximab,
although it was listed as one of the drugs to be funded in
the next year. 

While cetuximab will be funded,
this does not currently include bowel cancers with the BRAF
mutation. Bowel Cancer NZ wants to see funding extended and
expedited for patients with this mutation, like Blair
Vining, who passed away in 2019. 

Cancer advocate
Melissa Vining says, “For many patients like Blair with a
BRAF mutation, this is heartbreaking news. Facing an
aggressive form of cancer with no publicly funded drugs
available leaves you with several choices: leave NZ to
obtain treatment in Australia, fundraise for the treatment,
sell your home if you have one or wait to die knowing that
if you lived in a comparable country like Australia, your
treatment would be funded. This takes an incredible toll on
many New Zealanders who simply deserve a fair chance at
treatment.” 

This progress in funding bowel
cancer drugs is encouraging, but there’s still more to be
done. Bowel Cancer NZ continues to advocate for bevacizumab
(Avastin), which has been on the Medicine Waiting List since
2010. 

Bowel cancer symptoms
include: 

• Bleeding from the bottom
  or seeing blood in the toilet after a bowel
  motion 
• Change of bowel motions over several
  weeks without returning to normal 
• Persistent
  or periodic severe pain in the abdomen 
• A lump
  or mass in the abdomen 
• Tiredness and loss of
  weight for no particular
  reason 
• Anaemia. 

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