Copper intra-uterine devices (IUDs) and levonorgestrel (Postinor 1 emergency contraceptive pill) community dispensing and hospital purchase data for 2019 and 2020

Thank you for your request dated 13 December 2022 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to prescriptions for copper intra-uterine devices (IUDs) and levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive pill. You requested: 

  • the official 2019 and 2020 (separate) NZ prescription counts for funded Copper IUDs and if possible, the breakdown for those given/ prescribed as emergency contraceptive methods… Alternatively, the total copper IUDs dispensed in the community and hospitals will be suffice.
  • the 2019 and 2020 count for levonogestrel (Prostinor 1 emergency contraceptive pill). 

I am pleased to provide you information for your request. Please find data for your request in the tables below. 

Table 1: Community dispensings for copper IUDs (units dispensed)

  2019 2020
Choice Load 375 IUD 35.5 mm length x 19.6 mm width 653 613
Choice TT380 Short IUD 29.1 mm length x 23.2 mm width 611 644
Choice TT380 Standard IUD 33.6 mm length x 29.9 mm width 1,089 1,043
Total units dispensed 2,353 2,300

 

Table 2: Hospital purchases for copper IUDs (units purchased)

  2019 2020
Choice Load 375 IUD 35.5 mm length x 19.6 mm width 43 51
Choice TT380 Short IUD 29.1 mm length x 23.2 mm width 47 50
Choice TT380 Standard IUD 33.6 mm length x 29.9 mm width 401 284
TT380 Slimline IUD 33.6 mm length x 29.9 mm width 5 0
Total units purchased 496 385

 

Table 3: Community dispensings for levonorgestrel tab 1.5 mg (Postinor-1) (units dispensed)

Levonorgestrel (Postinor-1) tab 1.5 mg 2019 2020
Bulk supply order (BSO) 20 59
Practitioner's supply order (PSO)  32,309  21,355
Prescription  85,585  90,087
Total 117,914 111,501

 

Table 4: Hospital purchases for levonorgestrel tab 1.5 mg (Postinor-1) (units purchased)

  2019 2020
Levonorgestrel (Postinor-1) tab 1.5 mg 3,360 2,744

Please note:

  • treatment indication data is not available for these products/chemicals as it is not reported to Pharmac. As such we cannot confirm whether units dispensed/purchased were used for emergency contraception.
  • we can only provide units purchased by hospitals, rather than units prescribed or dispensed.
  • these data do not include any products purchased privately as this is not reported to Pharmac.
  • data are provided for calendar years (1 January to 31 December). 

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.