Lung cancer NPPA funding data for 2020/21
6 December 2021
Dear [name and contact details withheld]
Request for information
Thank you for your request dated 1 November 2021 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to lung cancer treatments funded in financial year[1] 2020/21.
In our response to you of 26 November 2021, we advised we needed more time to respond to point 5 of your request (below).
- Report for the year ended 30th June 2021
- NPPA applications submitted per lung cancer
- A list of all those funded AND those that were declined
…according to;
- Small Cell Lung Cancer
- Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (list by known lung cancer biomarker I.e. ALK, Ros1, EFGR, Her2 etc (See list attached)
- Immunotherapy – … how many applications on behalf of patients were for immunotherapy (for example Keytruda – Pembrolizumab)
- Mesothelioma
Please see below for our response to your request.
Between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021, Pharmac received five Named Patient Pharmaceutical Assessment (NPPA) applications for lung cancer treatments.
These applications were for pembrolizumab, crizotinib, dabrafenib, and trametinib. Types of lung cancer being treated were non-small cell, BRAF mutation positive, mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma. None of these applications were approved, as they did not meet the principles of the NPPA Policy.
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
[1] Pharmac's financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June.