Annual usage of recombinant factor VIII

Date sent: 9 February 2021

OIA response

9 February 2021

Dear [name and contact details withheld]

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Thank you for your request dated 14 January 2021 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to recombinant factor VIII. You wrote:

It would be really helpful to know the total units of factor eight currently used in New Zealand annually. Ideally broken down by age.

…I just need to estimate annual usage as measured in IU over a "typical year".

Rurioctocog alfa pegol [Recombinant factor VIII] – Adynovate

Moroctocog alfa [Recombinant factor VIII] - Xyntha

Octocog alfa [Recombinant factor VIII] - Kogenate FS

Octocog alfa [Recombinant factor VIII] (Advate)

Please find data below to assist with your request.

Calendar year	2018	2019	2020
Total IUs	21,871,250.00	22,638,750.00	30,004,000.00
Proportion of under 18s	32%	31%	30%

Sum of IUs

	Over 18	Under 18
2018	14,322,250	7,549,000
2019	15,823,500	6,815,250
2020	20,766,500	9,237,500
Grand total	50,912,250	23,601,750

Sum of patients

	Over 18	Under 18
2018	126	59
2019	133	59
2020	137	59
Grand total	396	177

Please note:

A patient’s age is taken as their age at the time of dispensing.
Unavoidably, a patient who receives a dispensing at ages 17 and 18 during the same financial year will be counted twice for that financial year (though their units are not double counted).

Rurioctocog alfa pegol [Recombinant factor VIII] – Adynovate

FYR	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count
	Under 18		Over 18
2019	143,000	<10	686,000	11
2020	5,155,500	35	13,149,000	62

Moroctocog alfa [Recombinant factor VIII] – Xyntha

FYR	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count
	Under 18		Over 18
2018	6,458,250	53	13,604,250	121
2019	5,764,750	54	14,176,250	126
2020	1,785,000	20	1,735,250	53

Octocog alfa [Recombinant factor VIII] – Kogenate FS

FYR	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count
	Under 18		Over 18
2018	1,090,750	<10	718,000	<10
2019	907,500	<10	893,000	<10
2020	403,250	<10	342,500	<10

Octocog alfa [Recombinant factor VIII] – Advate

FYR	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count	Sum of IUs	Sum of Patient Count
	Under 18		Over 18
2019	-	-	68,250	<10
2020	1,893,750	25	5,539,750	76

Please note that PHARMAC approaches its assessment of requests for information under the OIA on the basis that, once released, the information becomes publicly available - in other words once we release the information to you it becomes available to any other party in that exact form (whether by you distributing it to others or by virtue of us receiving the same request from a different third party).

We have made some adjustments to the data provided where patient totals are equal to or less than 10 (displayed as <10) as we consider this is necessary to protect the privacy of those patients (section 9(2)(a)).

As required under the OIA, we also considered whether, in the circumstances, the withholding of this information was outweighed by other considerations which render it desirable, in the public interest, to make this information available. In this case we did not consider that the public interest outweighed the reasons for withholding the information.

Please note you have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(3) of the OIA to an Ombudsman, to seek an investigation and review of our decision.

We trust that this information answers your queries. We are making our information more freely available, so we will 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