Pharmac considering feedback on diabetes CGMs funding proposal

21 May 2024

Media release Medicines

Pharmac has listened to feedback on its proposal to fund continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), insulin pumps and insulin pump consumables for people with type 1 diabetes and is now seeking further advice and information about several aspects.

“We had a lot of feedback – about 1,200 responses, including a petition with 9,000 signatures – to our public consultation and we need to engage further with clinicians, consumer groups and suppliers to understand the matters raised,” says Geraldine MacGibbon, Pharmac’s Director Pharmaceuticals.

“We want to make sure that the proposal we put to Pharmac’s Board is really robust and well-informed, and that it reflects the feedback we’ve received in the consultation process.”

She says that means the timeframe for putting a funding proposal to Pharmac’s Board and then making funded CGMs available, if approved, will be pushed back.

“I know that will be disappointing for many people as we’ve heard very clearly that having access to funded CGMs would make a real difference to people’s lives.

“This is a priority for Pharmac to continue progressing and we’re working as fast as we can on the funding proposal. We do need to take the time now though to make sure we’ve listened to and fully considered the feedback we’ve received during the consultation.”

Pharmac will host an online information session in a fortnight to talk about the process of developing the funding proposal and provide an update on Pharmac’s next steps, including engagement with clinicians, consumers and suppliers.

Details of information session:

12 noon until 12.45pm, Thursday 6 June
Session will be online on Teams – attendees will not need an account to join
The session will be recorded and available on Pharmac's website afterwards

Details about the online information session will be available on the Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), insulin pumps and insulin pump consumables: Procurement status webpage.

MacGibbon says the aspects of the funding proposal raised during the feedback that require further work relate to product usability, the health impacts of changing brands of insulin pumps, and the support needed to help with a change of insulin pump.

“At this point we can’t say definitively when a decision on the CGMs and pumps proposal will be made but we will keep you updated on our progress. We’d like to thank all of the individual people, whānau, clinicians, consumer groups and suppliers who provided feedback – it really reflects how important this is and we are working hard to make this happen for you.”

Update on the proposal to fund continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, and insulin pump consumables

Download our audio update

Pharmac's Director Pharmaceuticals, Geraldine MacGibbon discusses the update on CGMs [MP3 3 MB]

Transcript of audio file

In April, we shared a consultation on a proposal to fund continuous glucose monitors or CGMs, insulin pumps, and insulin pump consumables. That consultation has now closed. We received a large amount of feedback, over 1200 responses, including a petition with over 9000 signatures.

We really appreciate all the feedback that we received, including really personal and heartfelt stories from people describing how they manage their type 1 diabetes, we, we’re really grateful for all the feedback we’ve received. Much of the feedback was really positive. We’ve been, we’ve been told how much of a difference having access to funded cgms would make to people’s lives.

But the feedback also raised some issues with the proposal that we need to really listen to, understand, and fully consider before we can take a proposal to Pharmac’s board for a decision. The aspects of the proposal that we need to consider further include the usability of the devices, the health impacts of, from people changing brands of insulin pumps, and the support needed for people changing brands of insulin pumps.

This means we are delaying taking a decision to Pharmac’s board and that will mean a delay in accessing funded CGMs. I can assure you that we are really committed to taking this proposal forward and we’re working as fast as we can to understand the issues, talk to our clinician groups, suppliers, our consumer groups, so that we can fully consider the issues raised and take an updated proposal to Pharmac’s board as fast as possible.

We know that this delay will be really disappointing to lots of people who are really looking forward to having access to funded CGMs as fast as possible. But we really need to make sure that we have listened to the feedback we’ve been given and that our proposal is as robust as it possibly can be when we take it to the Board for a decision.

We have organised an online information session on the 6th of June at 12pm. Which you can attend, ask questions, we’ll give you an update on where we are at in this process. And details will be on our, the Pharmac website.