No decision on drug yet: Pharmac

WELLINGTON: Pharmac has reiterated that it has not yet made a decision on whether to fund two breast cancer drugs, after a press release from a support group for women with breast cancer said it had refused an application for funding.

The Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition (BCAC) on Tuesday said Pharmac had refused funding for Kadcyla, one of two drugs — the other being Ibrance — which women with advanced breast cancer hope will be funded by Pharmac.

‘‘This is a huge blow for women with advanced HER2 positive breast cancer who took a petition to Parliament in October 2018 calling for Pharmac to fund this medicine,’’ Breast Cancer Aotearoa chairwoman Libby Burgess said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Roche said Roche representatives and senior members of Pharmac met on April 12.

‘‘At this meeting Roche was notified that currently the prioritisation of Kadcyla meant that Pharmac would be investing in other medicines,’’ the spokeswoman said.

Pharmac’s director of operations Lisa Williams said yesterday Pharmac had made no decisions on the funding of Kadcyla.

‘‘The record of the most recent clinical expert advice Pharmac has received on Kadcyla, from our pharmacology and therapeutics advisory committee, is due to be published in early May 2019.’’

She confirmed Pharmac met Roche on April 12 for a confidential discussion on a number of funding applications for medicines supplied by Roche, and other matters.

‘‘The meeting was not about Kadcyla specifically, although Roche’s application for Kadcyla was discussed and it was informed the situation for the funding application was unchanged.

‘‘Pharmac confirmed it had assessed Kadcyla and it had been compared with, and ranked against, other funding options Pharmac is currently considering. Roche was also informed that, as with all funding applications, the relative ranking of Kadcyla will be regularly reviewed,’’ Ms Williams said.

Kadcyla was last ranked in 2017 and last year Pharmac’s expert cancer treatments subcommittee recommended it be funded with medium priority.

BCAC on Tuesday lodged a petition with Parliament calling for Health Minister David Clark to provide sufficient funding to Pharmac to subsidise all the drugs listed in the European Society of Medical Oncology guidelines for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. — NZME