Posted by Michael Wonder on 22 Jul 2020
Epilepsy medicine linked to deaths not same as previous funded drug — advocacy group
22 July 2020 - Testing commissioned by Patient Voice Aotearoa, a patient advocacy group, shows the three medicines given in New Zealand to treat epilepsy are “not the same”.
Patient advocates say the epilepsy medicine at the centre of a controversial medicine switch is not the same as the other two medicines previously funded for the condition – a finding disputed by Medsafe.
In 2019, about 11,000 New Zealanders had their medication switched to a generic form of anticonvulsant lamotrigine due to a change in PHARMAC funding.
