Number of people approved treatment with Viekira Pak

18 August 2021

Dear [name and contact details withheld] 

Request for information 

Thank you for your request dated 28 July 2021 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to Viekira Pak. You requested: 

1. How many treatment courses were purchased?
2. How many courses / patients have been treated and cured by Viekira in New Zealand between 1/7/2016 and 30/6/2019?
3. How many treatment courses were returned to the manufacturer because they had expired? 

Number of people approved treatment for hepatitis C with Viekira Pak between 1/7/2016 and 30/6/2019

 We are unable to provide information to answer questions 1 and 3 of your request as we do not hold this information. The supplier of Viekira Pak, AbbVie, may be able to assist you with these questions. Additionally, we do not hold information about the number of people cured by treatment with Viekira Pak. As such, we have not provided this information on the basis that the information requested is not held by Pharmac and we have no grounds for believing that it is held by another Government organisation (section 18(g)(i) of the OIA).

Please note you have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(3) of the OIA to an Ombudsman, to seek an investigation and review of our decision.

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