‘Crowdfunding not a Pharmac substitute’
Crowd-funding website Givealittle shouldn’t be used to plug the gaps in Government drug-buying agency Pharmac’s provisions for lifeprolonging breast cancer treatments.
This was among the messages delivered by 10 women living with advanced breast cancer during oral submissions at the Health Select Committee hearing in Wellington yesterday.
The Metivivors New Zealand members were among 33,971 New Zealanders who signed online petitions calling for funding for the drugs Ibrance and Kadcyla.
Following a march and petition presentation in October last year, the matter was referred to select committee for consideration.
Those speaking at the hearing yesterday were heavily critical of Pharmac’s decision to not follow other like-minded nations including Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada in funding the medications.
Cancer patient Marg Dobson appealed for an inquiry into Pharmac – who she called the ‘‘gatekeeper of the public purse’’ – claiming women with stage four breast cancer deserved ‘‘gold standard treatment’’ – instead, New Zealand only offered bronze.
In response, committee head Louisa Wall indicated it may ask Pharmac to return to the hearing to respond to the issues raised by the group.
Dr Hilary Chung, an Auckland University senior academic, said the financial burden of having to find $66,000 to fund her own cancer treatment was like a ‘‘punch in the stomach.’’
Knowing her
life depended on
it, Chung reluctantly set up a Givealittle page.
‘‘Putting my personal health details in the public domain is painful, it’s excruciating ... this is not a good position for people with terminal diseases to be in.’’
Wiki Mulholland said there were more than a thousand Givealittle pages set up to help fund expensive breast cancer treatment.
‘‘Stripped back to its core, this is about our right to live. I want to live. Whether it’s two months, two years or 20 years. Our Government and elected members of our community should be prioritising and valuing life as the most important thing.
‘‘Our Government should be prioritising life ... I wonder how many more of us have to die before we see some action.’’
Pharmac chief executive Sarah Fitt said Ibrance and Kadcyla were two of the medicines it was considering for funding. But she added that while some medicines may be available in other countries, the funding and reimbursement systems were ‘‘not always comparable.’’
‘‘New Zealand must make its own decisions ...many new medicines are launched without clear evidence that they work as the pharmaceutical companies claim.
‘‘These treatments can look promising, but we need to be absolutely sure they do what they say on the tin and that we spend public money wisely,’’ Fitt said.
If treatments with ‘‘high uncertainty about their results’’ were funded, the reality was that it would take away from more proven treatments.