Cost of funding oral vinorelbine

Request for information relating to a cost breakdown of oral vinorelbine.

18 November 2020

Dear [name and contact details withheld]

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Thank you for your request dated 24 October 2020 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to oral vinorelbine. You asked for:

  1. The list price per pack (20mg x 1, 30mg x 1, 80mg x 1) required for oral vinorelbine to be cost neutral to the health sector compared to IV vinorelbine.
  2. The cost offsets including individual item costs in NZD included in previous cost, cost neutral or other financial analyses of oral vinorelbine, such as reduced intravenous service costs.
  3. All cost items including individual item costs in NZD included in previous cost, cost neutral or other financial analyses of oral vinorelbine compared to IV vinorelbine.
  4. The cost to the health sector of:
    1. Out patient bed, nurse time, physician time and pharmacist time for IV vinorelbine administration
    2. Materials required to deliver an infusion of IV vinorelbine

Please see our response to your request for information below.

PHARMAC has not produced a Technology Assessment Report (TAR) or conducted cost-benefit analyses for oral vinorelbine independently or in comparison to intravenous (IV) vinorelbine. As such, we are unable to advise a “cost neutral” price for oral vinorelbine as we do not hold the information requested and do not have any reason to believe the information is either held by any other department or agency or connected more closely with the functions of another department or agency (section 18(g)).

The Prescription for Pharmacoeconomic Analysis (PFPA) is a guide for anyone assessing the value for money of pharmaceuticals in New Zealand. The PFPA can be found on our website: www.pharmac.govt.nz > search: PFPA.

In addition to the PFPA, the Cost Resource Manual contains current data on key cost and prices that PHARMAC uses to inform cost-utility analyses (CUAs) and budget impact analyses (BIAs). The Cost Resource Manual can be found on our website: www.pharmac.govt.nz > search: “Cost Resource Manual”.

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