Extending the gift of life

It just seems wrong that this country struggles to keep pace with the likes of Australia in providing powerful new drugs.

heartlessness more often than most branches of the bureaucracy.

Its task is not easy. Its budget is capped – even if it currently runs at $850 million a year – and new medicines and medical procedures are not cheap. It has negotiated some great deals that have helped the entire population since being established in 1993. However, its refusal to ensure the latest treatments are available, subsidised, to New Zealanders means it is criticised often.

It just seems wrong that this country struggles to keep pace with the likes of Australia in providing powerful new drugs.

The latest campaign seeking a more flexible, humane approach involves a new wonder drug for treating patients with aggressive breast cancer.

Perjeta battles forms of the cancer that have spread. Trials suggest it can mean on average an extra 16 months of life. It will be available from January to newly diagnosed patients – but not to those who have already received other treatment for the disease.

Apparently the new medicine works best in combination with other drugs such as Herceptin, itself subject of a sustained, ultimately successful, campaign for Pharmac funding.

When Australia opted to fund Perjeta, it made the treatment available for women who had been diagnosed for up to a year.

Pharmac has agreed to look further into the availability rules. Hopefully it does so quickly. These tragically unfortunate Kiwi women who through a simple fault of timing are currently ineligible should be included – no question.

Pharmac’s decision-makers hold the gift of life in their hands. The current rule seems desperately unfair, and loosening the rules in this case would not mean huge budgetary implications long-term. But for the women involved, and their families, it would be beyond price.