DHB cancer test stance queried
PACIFIC Edge’s bladder cancer test is used by many district health boards, and sells in the United States, Australia and Southeast Asia.
However, the Dunedin firm is frustrated it cannot get the Southern District Health Board to accept its offer of free use of the technology, despite a recent Health and Disability Commissioner’s report finding severe fault with the SDHB’s handling of urology patients and waiting lists.
‘‘The urologists inside the DHB want this technology with a passion,’’ the firm’s chief executive, David Darling, said.
‘‘To our knowledge there is no clinical reason why they are not taking it up.’’
NZXlisted Pacific Edge makes two products, Cx Bladder and Cx Monitor, to detect and monitor bladder cancer. Its clients include major American healthcare providers and the neighbouring Canterbury DHB.
Pacific Edge had approached the SDHB previously, and even offered its product for free, but it had not been taken up.
While there was a commercial advantage for Pacific Edge to have the SDHB use its product, potential income from a small market like the southern region was not vital for a company which reported more than $3.4 million operating revenue last year, Mr Darling said.
‘‘New Zealand is such a small market, it is barely a blip on our radar, so why are we burning energy on it?
‘‘New Zealand is a fantastic place to bring new technology to the market, and if you have good technology with good peerreviewed scientific publications you can really make a difference . . . we would love our technology to be adopted by our hometown DHB, and we can’t see any reason why it could not be adopted.’’
Mr Darling said Pacific Edge had contacted some of the patients whose cases were reported in the HDC urology service report and offered them their products for free.
‘‘We are concerned that people not being tested is impacting on their lives, when there is an alternative . . . people could get hurt, when there is no need for them to get hurt.’’
SDHB chief medical officer Nigel Millar said Pacific Edge’s test was promising and innovative.
‘‘However like any other innovation in healthcare it needs a suitable evidence base to justify the cost, clarify the benefits, and to ensure that no new risks for patients are generated.
‘‘Pacific Edge have approached us in the past and the urology service has promoted the idea.
‘‘To make this investigation suitable for funding by the public health system there needs to be evidence presented of safety, effectiveness and value for money and this was not provided at that time.’’
The SDHB has established a new clinical practice committee, which Millar said would be the appropriate place to consider introducing new information.
‘‘Our urology team, or any other clinician are welcome to present this to the committee for them to consider the use of Cx Bladder at Southern DHB as a new funded investigation.’’