Thursday, 20 May 2021, 2:37 pm
Announcement in the budget today of $200 million over the
next four years is simply meeting the Government s election
2020 promise for funding existing medicines and some new
ones. It does nothing to solve the medicines access crisis
or medicines inequity issues for Māori and Pacific peoples,
and simply confirms information already leaked to the media
earlier this week.
While New Zealand’s total health
budget has increased with a big investment to overcome the
COVID-19 and DHB funding issues, the medicines budget has
not kept up with population growth and inflation since 2007
and is still in crisis. Evidence for this came from a recent
+Undoctored
Media release from Medicines New Zealand
Tuesday 2 March 2021, 04:18 PM
1 minute to Read
Medicines New Zealand, the industry association representing companies involved in the research, development and manufacture of modern medicines and vaccines, is supportive of the proposed review into PHARMAC if it is intended to improve the existing system and enhance modern medicines access for patients and the health system.
“Medicines New Zealand understands any Government’s need to have access to modern medicines in a timely manner, and the current Government has shown it is capable of moving swiftly to fund COVID-19 health measures in as short a timeframe as possible to save the lives of New Zealanders” said Dr Graeme Jarvis, CEO of Medicines New Zealand.
Medicines New Zealand and the New Zealand Medical Association have jointly released New Zealand-specific guidelines for the public disclosure of payments around interactions between the biopharmaceutical sector and healthcare practitioners which are in effect from 1 January 2021
Photo: Andy Dean Photography/ 123rf
Voluntary guidelines have been set out by Medicines New Zealand and the New Zealand Medical Association, asking drug companies to post annual reports on which doctors or health workers received payments and what the payments were for.
Medicines New Zealand chief executive Graeme Jarvis.
Photo: Supplied
Medicines New Zealand chief executive Graeme Jarvis said his organisation was made up of companies researching, making and marketing drugs.
All members, including major drug manufacturers Pfizer and GSK, had agreed to disclose payments to health workers, he said.
Jarvis hoped the guidelines would increase public trust in the payments, which some researchers have said influence how doctors prescribe drugs for patients.