Harvoni for treating hepatitis C
Harvoni is funded for people with severe liver disease
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Accessing funded Harvoni
All prescribers, including general practitioners, can apply to the Hepatitis C Treatment Panel for funded Harvoni for eligible people. Funding is restricted to patients with severe liver disease.
Prescribers must apply to the Pharmac Hepatitis C Treatment Panel for funding approval.
Prescribers must attach the original prescriptions for Harvoni and ribavirin to the application.
They will need to specify a delivery address. This can be a clinic, hospital, pharmacy or GP address. This is so the treatment can be stored correctly until its needed. Someone must be available to accept delivery, as the courier will require a signature.
Treatment course
- A treatment course of Harvoni in combination with ribavirin is 12 weeks.
- Treatment will be delivered one month at a time.
- The second and third month of treatment will be sent early to ensure the patient has enough time to collect their treatment.
In the unusual case where ribavirin is contraindicated:
- a treatment course of Harvoni is 24 weeks.
If your patient needs 24 weeks' treatment of Harvoni, you will need to provide two original prescriptions of Harvoni (with different dates) when you submit the application form.
Timeframes
Decisions on applications for Harvoni are made regularly.
Applications in clinically urgent situations can be considered rapidly if needed.
We'll notify the prescriber of the outcome once we've made a decision.
If the application is approved, the treatment will be couriered to the specific address within 7 to 10 working days of the approval.
Contact details
If you have any specific questions about a patient’s application or Harvoni you can contact Pharmac:
Phone: 0800 023 588 (option 4)
Email: hepcpanel@pharmac.govt.nz
HepCTP Coordinator
PO Box 10 254
Wellington
Fax: 04 974 4826
Members of the panel
The Hepatitis C Treatment Panel has been set up to consider applications for funded access to Harvoni for the treatment of hepatitis C in patients with severe liver disease. It is administered by Pharmac. The Panel members are hepatitis C treatment specialists.
- Professor Edward Gane – Hepatologist
- Professor Catherine Stedman – Gastroenterologist and Clinical Pharmacologist
- Dr Jeffrey Wong – Gastroenterologist
- Dr Campbell White – Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist
- Sarah Fitt – Chief Executive, Pharmac