12 April 2024 - PHARMAC has decided to fund several medicines and widen access to two others, a move that will benefit more than 30,000 people.

The decision includes:

• Funding a maintenance treatment for ovarian cancer, niraparib (Zejula), from 1 May 2024, which will benefit 110 people in the first year of funding.
• Funding the first single inhaler triple-therapy will be funded from 1 May 2024. Fluticasone furoate with umeclidinium and vilanterol (branded as Trelegy Ellipta) will benefit around 15,000 people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the first year of funding. For most people, this will mean switching from using two or three separate inhalers to using just one.
• Funding a treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), dolutegravir with lamivudine (Dovato), from 1 May 2024. About 900 people are expected to switch from their current treatment to this in the first year of funding.
• Widening access to mepolizumab (Nucala) for relapsed or refractory eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a rare vasculitis condition from 1 May 2024.
• Widening access to the shingles vaccine for some people who are immunocompromised and at high risk of getting shingles from 1 July 2024. This will affect 15,000 people in the first two years of funding, in addition to people who are 65 years old who can access the vaccine.

Read PHARMAC press release