Annual cost of anti-psychotics

OIA response

Thank you for your request received by the Ministry of Health on 27 July 2023 and formally transferred to Pharmac on 8 August 2023 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to anti-psychotics.

You requested:

1) What is the total cost of psychotic medications per year?

Year Cost
2018 $ 35,313,122.48
2019 $ 33,961,779.91
2020 $ 36,909,862.59
2021 $ 38,022,203.97
2022 $ 39,695,856.65

Please note:

  • We have interpreted your request to refer to the anti-psychotics group of medications, which covers multiple different anti-psychotic medications outlined on Pharmac’s website(external link).
  • The data attached represents the overall gross spend of all anti-psychotic medications, however, does not represent the net cost as some agents are subject to confidential rebates. Pharmac negotiates confidential rebates on some medicines, which ultimately lowers the price paid by the taxpayer.

We trust that this information answers your queries. Please note, you have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman about our response to your OIA, under section 28(3) of the OIA. Details of how to make a complaint(external link) are on the Ombudsman’s website.

To make information more freely available, we publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this.