Dying father buys drugs from India
Dad diagnosed with terminal lung cancer brings in cheap pharmaceuticals with help from Indian community
AKiwi dad dying of lung cancer has been bypassing the Pharmac system to get cheap pharmaceuticals directly from India — and says thousands of other patients could do the same.
Baden Ngan Kee was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer — despite having never smoked — in 2016. By October last year the cancer had spread to his brain.
His doctor suggested three cancerfighting drugs that could extend his life, including one targeted therapy. But none were funded by Pharmac, the Government’s drug-buying agency, so they would cost him a prohibitive $23,000 a month.
Desperate for more time with his wife Katherine and their three young children, Ngan Kee turned to Google.
“When you’re terminal, with a young family, time is everything,” he said. “My mission is to build memories for my kids.”
The Remuera 54-year-old found the brand-name drugs were available cheaply in India, and generic versions would cost even less.
India is lax about patent laws and has a flourishing generic drug industry, which keeps prices low. All three drugs would cost Ngan Kee less than $1300 per month.
He turned to New Zealand’s Indian community, who pointed him to a trusted oncologist in India. Ngan Kee emailed the doctor his medical records, and was prescribed the required drugs.
Kiwi Indian contacts brought the medicines back, with prescriptions from New Zealand and India and a doctor’s letter of compassion. They declared the pharmaceuticals at Customs, and were allowed through.
Ngan Kee has also had the drugs posted directly to a Kiwi pharmacist willing to dispense them.
The Herald has not named the drugs Ngan-Kee has imported, as he is concerned about breaching patent law.
Using mass spectrometry, a contact tested both the brand-name and generic drugs he’d imported. They were chemically identical to the branded version available here.
Ngan Kee believes the drugs gave him at least an extra year of life, but they have now stopped working and he expects to live a few weeks or months. He is on chemotherapy and funding his own Keytruda injections, but has little hope they will work.
“This is not against Pharmac. I just want people to know, if you’re in a situation where you can’t access drugs, there’s a way you can do it. Do what you need to do to stay alive,” he said.
“In my experience the Indian community is a big one and a kind one.”
Pharmac funds some generic medicines but only once their patents expire. Chief executive Sarah Fitt said once a patent expired other suppliers could sell a generic version.
A Pharmac spokesman said one of Ngan Kee’s three imported medicines would be fully funded from May 1. A drug company had also applied for one of the drugs to be funded for nonsmall-cell lung cancer.
Most medicines in New Zealand are registered for use by Medsafe, which ensures generic versions are safe and work the same as the original brand.
Doctors can legally prescribe medicines that have not been approved by Medsafe, as long as they are an authorised medical professional.
Three months’ supply can be imported at a time for personal use as long as the person has a “reasonable excuse“, Medsafe says.