Cancer medicines funded in the past 10 years

Date sent: 1 June 2021

OIA response

1 June 2021: OIA response | Cancer medicines funded in the past 10 years

Dear [name and contact details withheld]

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Thank you for your request dated 8 April 2021 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to the number of new cancer medicines funded in the past 10 years. You requested:

The number of new cancer medicines funded in the past 10 years (both number of new individual drugs and perhaps number of extra patients treated) …ideally numbers + a graphic illustration.

New medicines for cancer approved would be OK if that is easier, widened would be helpful but not essential.

Please see the table below which details all the investment decisions for cancer medicines made from 1 July 2010 to 31 March 2021. Note that the number of new patients is estimated based on the number of people likely to access the medicines in the first financial year[1] (FYR) of funding (from the implementation month to the end of the financial year in which the medicines were first funded). The actual numbers of patients treated will likely differ from the estimates and be greater in the years after funding was first implemented.

From 1 July 2010 to 31 March 2021, PHARMAC has funded 52 cancer medicines (widened access and new listings). Of these medicines, the total estimated number of new patients treated in the first FYR of funding was 6,547.

Additionally, PHARMAC funded the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) from January 2017 for the prevention of premalignant genital (cervical, vulvar and vaginal) and anal lesions (item 20 in the below table). The estimated number of new patients treated in the first financial year of funding was 25,000.

Please note, we are unable to provide a graphic illustration as requested as we do not currently hold any graphics relating to this specific information. Therefore, we have declined your request for a graphic illustration on the basis that the information is not held by PHARMAC (section 18(g)(i) of the OIA).

However, some graphics related to funding cancer medicines can be found in our Year in Review 2019/20 report and other past Year in Review documents which are published to our website: www.pharmac.govt.nz > About > What we do > Year in Review

We trust that this information answers your queries. We are making our information more freely available, so we now publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Read
Manager, Policy and Government Services

Table: Investment decisions for cancer medicines made from 1 July 2010 to 31 March 2021*

Investment decisions are classified as access widening (AW)** or new listings (NL)***

* Excludes temporary access widenings due to COVID-19 or discontinuations of previously funded treatments.

**Changes in access criteria for existing funded medicines, making them more accessible and/or available for a wider patient population(s).

***Any medicine not currently listed on the Schedule and any new presentations (ie tablet, infusion, injection) that represent a significant shift in treatment options for patients.

#	Pharmaceutical	Used to treat	Decision type	Implementation month	Estimated # new patients in first FYR of funding
1	Febuxostat	Prevention of tumour lysis syndrome	AW	February 2021	15
2	Fulvestrant	Locally advanced or metastatic oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer	NL	April 2020	891
3	Lenalidomide	Newly diagnosed multiple myeloma post-autologous stem cell transplant	AW	April 2020	90
4	Palbociclib	HR-positive, HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer	NL	April 2020	539
5	Bortezomib	Multiple myeloma and amyloidosis	AW	March 2020	-
6	Rituximab	Cancer, blood and autoimmune conditions	AW	March 2020	45
7	Ruxolitinib	Myelofibrosis, lower-risk (Intermediate-1)	AW	March 2020	23
8	Olaparib	BRCA-mutated relapsed ovarian cancer	NL	February 2020	15
9	Alectinib	ALK positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer	NL	December 2019	23
10	Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab	Immune checkpoint inhibitor for advanced melanoma widened access	AW	December 2019	-
11	Trastuzumab emtansine	HER-2 positive metastatic breast cancer	NL	December 2019	25
12	Venetoclax (with or without Rituximab)	Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia	NL	December 2019	150
13	Dasatinib	Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and acute lymphoid leukaemia (ALL)	AW	June 2019	-
14	Ruxolitinib	Myelofibrosis	NL	October 2018	45
15	Mercaptopurine	Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia	NL	June 2018	31
16	Cetuximab	Head and neck cancer	NL	February 2018	18
17	Zoledronic acid	Early breast cancer	AW	January 2018	400
18	Pemetrexed	Mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancer	NL	November 2017	90
19	Bendamustine	Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (iNHL)	NL	July 2017	160
20	Human papillomavirus vaccine	Prevention of premalignant genital (cervical, vulvar and vaginal) and anal lesions	AW	January 2017	25,000
21	Pertuzumab	Metastatic breast cancer	NL	January 2017	32
22	Obinutuzumab	Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia	NL	January 2017	54
23	Rituximab	Hairy cell leukaemia and re-treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia	AW	January 2017	60
24	Temozolomide	High grade gliomas (and from 1 Sept 16 well differentiated neuroendocrine tumours)	AW	December 2016	144
25	Pembrolizumab	Unresectable metastatic melanoma	NL	September 2016	333
26	Nivolumab	Unresectable metastatic melanoma	NL	July 2016	254
27	Cinacalcet	Parathyroid carcinoma, calciphylaxis	NL	May 2016	5
28	Abiraterone	Advanced prostate cancer	NL	May 2015	136
29	Zoledronic acid	Hypercalcaemia and cancer-related bone metastases	AW	February 2015	26
30	Everolimus	Sub-ependymal giant cell astrocytoma	NL	November 2014	4
31	Nilotinib	Chronic myeloid leukaemia	NL	November 2014	28
32	Benzydamine hydrochloride	Oral mucositis in Cancer patients	AW	October 2014	1,047
33	Bicalutamide	Prostate cancer	AW	October 2014	60
34	Lenalidomide	Multiple myeloma	NL	September 2014	56
35	Azacitidine	Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)	NL	September 2014	111
36	Imatinib	Imatinib-AFT for indications other than Gastro Intestinal Stromal Tumours (GIST)	NL	April 2014	-
37	Erlotinib	Alternative first-line treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor	AW	January 2014	10
38	Pegaspargase	Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia	AW	April 2013	3
39	Gemcitabine Hydrochloride	Metastatic breast cancer, Hodgkin’s Disease, soft tissue sarcoma	AW	December 2012	59
40	Irinotecan	Advanced pancreatic cancer, small bowel cancer	AW	December 2012	100
41	Oxaliplatin	Advanced pancreatic cancer, small bowel cancer, advanced oesophagogastric cancer	AW	December 2012	191
42	Vinorelbine	Breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer	AW	December 2012	5
43	Capecitabine	Metastatic breast cancer, colorectal cancer	AW	December 2012	188
44	Sunitinib	Cancer	AW	November 2012	-
45	Gefitinib	Lung cancer	AW	August 2012	53
46	Pazopanib	Metastatic renal cell carcinoma	NL	March 2012	2
47	Lapatinib	Metastatic breast cancer	NL	March 2012	31
48	Rituximab	Cancer treatment	AW	August 2011	100
49	Docetaxel	Cancer treatment	AW	July 2011	340
50	Sunitinib Maleate	Renal cell carcinoma	NL	November 2010	47
51	Erlotinib	Cancer treatment	NL	October 2010	49
52	Capecitabine	Cancer treatment	AW	October 2010	394
53	Rituximab	Cancer treatment	AW	October 2010	65

[1] PHARMAC’s financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June.