Posted by Michael Wonder on 13 Sep 2019
Taranaki man fearful drug funding change will bring back a life of seizures
13 September 2019 - For three years now a normal life has cost Nick Coulton $10 every three months. From October those same drugs to control his epilepsy will cost $500 - a sum he cannot afford.
Since 2017 the Taranaki-based 28-year-old has managed his epilepsy, a neurological disorder causing unpredictable seizures, with the help of drug Lamictal.
But on October 1 PHARMAC will stop funding the drug, which has allowed Coulton and more than 10,000 other Kiwis to control their epilepsy, and instead will fund Logem, a different, cheaper drug.
