Uptake of diabetes medication since August 2023

OIA response

Thank you for your request dated 2 October 2023 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to diabetes medication. You requested:

Since introduction by Pharmac to 31 August 2023 please provide the uptake number of individuals who have identified their ethnicity as Samoan, Tongan, Niuean, Cook Island, Fijian and other Pacific for the following medications:

  • Vildagliptin - both Galvus and galvumet
  • Empagliflozin (Jardiance)
  • Dulaglutide (Trulicity)
  • Liraglutide (Victoza)

Please also provide a comparison of uptake against other ethnic groups - essentially this can be Māori, Asian, and NZ European/Pakeha.

We are pleased to provide you with the information for your request in the excel spreadsheet attached.

Where 6 or fewer people are counted, we have changed the number to "<6" as we believe this is necessary to protect the privacy of these people (section 9(2)(a) of the OIA).

In making my decision, I have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of the Act. No public interest has been identified that would be sufficient to override the reasons for withholding that information.

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 may publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this.