RNZ
Patient advocates are accusing Health New Zealand of “cruelty” towards a small group of cancer patients, who are being forced to wait two more months for a newly-funded drug.
Pharmac has agreed to fund the medicine Keytruda from 1 October to treat five cancers: head and neck, triple negative breast, colorectal, bladder and Hodgkin lymphoma.
Patient Voice Aotearoa chairperson Malcolm Mulholland said the drug company Merck Sharp and Dohme had offered to give 20 to 30 patients free access in the meantime, but Health New Zealand had blocked it.