15 June 2017 - PHARMAC is pleased to announce the approval of an agreement with Janssen-Cilag for the listing of bendamustine hydrochloride.

This was the subject of a consultation letter dated 15 May 2017. The funding of bendamustine means that a new pharmaceutical used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and indolent Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL) will be funded, subject to restrictions, from 1 July 2017.

The proposal was broadly approved as consulted on except for small changes to Special Authority criteria, in that:

• the bendamustine criteria were amended to allow patients with CD20 negative iNHL (1-2% of patients) to access bendamustine monotherapy, and
  
• the rituximab criteria were amended to remove the requirement for patients to have good renal function (creatinine clearance ≥ 30 ml/min) for the treatment of CLL.
  

Read PHARMAC press release