Antifungals data

Date sent: 10 December 2019

OIA response

Response to a request for information on antifungal medicines.

10 December 2019

[name and contact details redacted]

Dear [name redacted]

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - ANTIFUNGALS

Thank you for your request dated 14 November 2019 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). You asked:

Information on the top 3 classes of prescription and over the counter meds to treat fungal infections? Pack volume and/or dollar expenditure data is appreciated

PHARMAC Response

As requested, we have provided in Table 1 the number of units dispensed, number of prescriptions, gross cost (excl GST), number of packs dispensed, for the financial year ending June 2019, as dispensed by community pharmacies.

Table 1 below represents the top three funded medicines in the Therapeutic Group Antifungals for the year ending June 2019. It is ranked by gross chemical cost (before rebates) and broken down by formulation.

Please note that PHARMAC only holds data on medicines listed in the Pharmaceutical Schedule and prescribed by doctors; we do not have access to data on over-the-counter sales of medicines to treat fungal infections.

Table 1 - Top antifungal agents by gross cost (year ending June 2019)

Chemical Formulation	Units Dispensed	No of packs	No of prescriptions	Drug cost excl gst
Posaconazole Tab modified release 100 mg	31956 tab	1331.5	313	$1,158,219
Amorolfine Nail soln 5%	102,590 ml	20,518	15,060	$327,229
Econazole nitrate Foaming soln 1%, 10 ml sachets	59,925	19,975	11,955	$197,518

As requested, we have provided the number of units dispensed, number of prescriptions, gross cost (excl GST), number of packs dispensed, for the financial year ending June 2019, as dispensed by community pharmacies.

Table 2 below represents the top three medicines in the Therapeutic Group Antifungals for the year ending June 2019. It is ranked by number of prescriptions and broken down by formulation.

Table 2 - Top antifungal agents by number of prescriptions (year ending June 2019)

Chemical Formulation	Units Dispensed	No of packs	No of prescriptions	Drug cost excl gst
Miconazole nitrate Crm 2%	2,781,150 g	185,410	82,535	$137,091
Clotrimazole Crm 1%	3,531,100 g	176,555	64,324	$123,790
Fluconazole Cap 150 mg	69,070 cap	69,070	30,317	$22,815
Fluconazole Cap 50 mg	102,293 cap	3,653	4,442	$7,635
Fluconazole Cap 200 mg	62,431 cap	2,230	2,144	$11,325
Fluconazole Powder for oral suspension 10 mg per ml	22,895 ml	654	199	$64,233

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 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

Alison Hill
Director, Engagement and Implementation