Number and cost of metered dose and dry powder inhalers and devices dispensed each year from 2017 to 2020

11 May 2021

Dear [name and contact details withheld]

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Thank you for your request dated 18 April 2021 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to inhalers for asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

You requested information about the number and cost of metered dose and dry powder inhalers and devices dispensed each year from 2017 to 2020. A copy of your full request received on 18 April 2021 has been provided as a PDF with this response.

A summary of the number and total gross cost of metered dose and dry powder inhalers funded by PHARMAC in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 is provided in the below tables.

Additionally, please see the ‘metered dose and dry powder inhalers data’ attached with this response for information for your full request.

Please note for the below inhalers, as the capsules and devices are provided together and are funded in combination, the cost information for the individual components cannot be provided.

  • Aerolizer (for eformoterol fumarate (Foradil) capsules)
  • Breezhaler (for indacaterol (Onbrez), glycopyrronium (Seebri) or glycopyrronium with indacaterol (Ultibro) capsules)
  • Handihaler (for tiotropium bromide (Spiriva) capsules) 

Table 1: Summary information for metered dose inhalers

Calendar year

Packs of metered dose inhalers funded

Total gross cost of metered dose inhalers funded

2017

3,387,787

$43,158,939.65

2018

3,315,433

$40,689,515.53

2019

3,307,630

$39,577,579.90

2020

3,120,766

$34,016,860.46

Table 2: Summary information for dry powder inhalers

Calendar year

Packs of dry powder inhalers funded

Total gross cost of dry powder inhalers funded

2017

1,108,066

$50,309,752.85

2018

1,248,661

$58,589,286.36

2019

1,393,279

$66,335,306.97

2020

1,628,787

$77,323,268.81

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.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Read
Manager, Policy and Government Services