Letter response disappoints
The daughter of a Palmerston North woman with advanced breast cancer is disappointed with the prime minister’s response to her letter pleading for life-prolonging medicine to be made more accessible.
Molly Rose Mulholland, 17, is the daughter of Wiki Mulholland, 40, who has metastatic breast cancer, the most advanced stage of breast cancer. It has spread to her bones.
Molly wrote an open letter to Jacinda Ardern in December, begging for Government intervention after Pharmac’s cancer treatments subcommittee recommended funding two lifeprolonging drugs, Ibrance and Kadcyla, but with strings attached.
Ibrance would not be funded for women who had already received hormonal treatment, and Kadcyla could be accessed only by those who hadn’t been treated with another drug, Perjeta.
After being approached by Stuff with the letter and questions, a spokesperson for the prime minister acknowledged it was a hard time for Molly Rose and her mum.
‘‘It is hard for everyone in these situations, but we do have an established process and Pharmac uses experts to consider these issues and make decisions based on evidence.’’
Molly Rose said Ardern had been able to make personal connections with other people who had bad things happen to them, and she had hoped for the same for her family.
‘‘All I know is that we still need our mum, and other families also need their loved ones too. ‘‘It is just taking way too long.’’ Her parents, Malcolm and Wiki Mulholland, have been calling for a review into Pharmac and were hoping the Health Select Committee would agree to conduct one.
Pharmac is speaking to the committee in February as part of the review, and people diagnosed with incurable metastatic breast cancer have been invited to provide submissions in March.
Malcolm Mulholland said when Ardern was interviewed by Duncan Garner on The AM show yesterday she said she wouldn’t block an inquiry into Pharmac if recommended by the Health Select Committee.
However, he took issue with her saying Pharmac was the envy of the world.
‘‘Even experts are saying the system is broken.’’