Advanced Breast Cancer Patients Deserve a Slice of Pharmac’s $124 Million Funding Boost

The Government’s 2016 budget, released yesterday, gave Pharmac a much-needed funding boost. The government has committed $124 million over four years to the organisation charged with funding medicines for NZ patients. That’s an increase of $39 million a year, bumping Pharmac’s annual budget up to $850 million – the highest it’s ever been.

In New Zealand, advanced breast cancer patients are lacking treatment options. This is particularly hard to stomach when you consider the fact that life-extending treatment options exist, and are funded publicly in other countries. We’re hoping Pharmac’s funding boost will help bring life-changing treatments within reach of these patients.

One drug that could significantly extend the lives of breast cancer patients is Perjeta.

Clinical trials showed that, on average, patients on Perjeta (pertuzumab) live 38% longer than patients on the standard drug that’s prescribed in New Zealand. For a cancer drug to increase the length of patient’s life by such a large margin is astounding.

Perjeta, which is publicly funded in both Australia and UK, has been labelled low-priority by Pharmac. The assessors agree that it is highly effective, but its high cost means that it’s been relegated to the low-priority bracket.

This is one of Pharmac’s faults – both effectiveness and price are considered when awarding a drug a priority rating. We’d like to see drugs rated on two separate scales, one that assesses their ability to treat disease, and one that rates their price. Under the current system, Perjeta’s remarkable potential to extend women’s lives is lost in public conversations when Pharmac gives it a low priority simply because it’s expensive.

It’s estimated that approximately 180 women will die from Her2+ breast cancer in NZ this year – if Pharmac chose to spend some of its government funding on Perjeta, these women would be able to enjoy life for longer.

Subcutaneous Herceptin is another treatment that hugely benefits Her2+ breast cancer patients, but isn’t yet available in New Zealand.

Breast cancer patients on Herceptin currently receive it intravenously, a process that takes anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes in a hospital bed. If Pharmac made the switch to funding the subcutaneous drug, the drug would be administered during a five minute appointment with an oncologist.

As well as being more convenient for the patient, this new treatment would reduce stress on the healthcare system, as patients will spend less time in hospitals.

Advanced breast cancer patients deserve to be considered when Pharmac makes decisions about how to spend its new cash injection. It’s not fair that these women are dying sooner than their Australian and UK counterparts, purely because of Pharmac’s budgeting decisions.