Posted by Michael Wonder on 15 Nov 2017
Proposal to widen funded access to pulmonary arterial hypertension treatments
15 November 2017 - PHARMAC is seeking feedback on a proposal to make several changes to the funding of medicines for pulmonary arterial hypertension.
In summary, we propose to make the following changes from 1 February 2018:
- New listing: IV epoprostenol would be listed in Section B (community) of the Pharmaceutical Schedule, and available via Special Authority upon approval by the pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) Panel.
- Access widening: The PAH severity requirements in the Special Authority criteria would be widened to include all patients with NYHA/WHO Functional Class II.
Treatment selection: Dual therapy would be available to patients who had trialled monotherapy and had no response or deteriorated, instead of requiring two trials of different monotherapies. Triple therapy would be available to patients meeting certain severity criteria.
Funded access mechanism: Funding for sildenafil and bosentan would be through a standard Special Authority application (electronic or manual) process instead of via the PAH Panel. Funding for iloprost, ambrisentan and epoprostenol injection would remain available via Special Authority upon approval by the PAH Panel.
