Concern over singlebrand epilepsy medication change

WELLINGTON: Epilepsy New Zealand is raising concerns about Pharmac changing its funding to just a single brand of lamotrigine epilepsy medication.

About 12,500 people take some brand of lamotrigine, for either epilepsy or a mental health condition such as bipolar.

From May 1, everyone using Lamictal and ArrowLamotrigine brands of lamotrigine 25, 50 or 100mg dispersible tablets will need to move to the Logem brand to keep accessing funding.

After a fivemonth transition period, Logem will be the only brand funded by Pharmac.

Wendy Nossiter, who has been seizurefree for five years, will start paying extra for her soontobeunsubsidised medication, because she does not want to change.

‘‘I’ve come such a long way in five years . . . to go backwards would absolutely devastate me,’’ she said.

She said it was not really in her budget to pay extra, but it was worth it for peace of mind.

Epilepsy New Zealand was one of the organisations that submitted on the changes and its chief executive, Graeme Ambler, questioned the implications.

‘‘To go through a change is a big upheaval for people, so if it does initiate a seizure it has a huge impact on their life.

For example, NZ Transport Agency would suspend a driver’s licence for for 12 months after a seizure.

Mr Ambler said some people had struggled with the medication change.

Pharmac chief executive Lisa Williams said the drugbuying agency had learnt from previous brand changes and that it needed to enable people to stay on their current brand, if that what was best for them.

‘‘[For] people who have experienced problems changing, their doctors can make an application on an easy form to Pharmac so that we can assess whether or not ongoing funding of the previous brand should be made available.

‘‘We can also accept applications for people where their GPs think it’s not going to be possible for them to change,’’ she said.