Number of unique patients dispensed alectinib (Alecensa) cap 150 mg per month from 1 December 2019

OIA response

Thank you for your request dated 3 March 2022 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to alectinib. You requested: 

Alectinib patient numbers (month by month) since date of funding (1 December 2019) 

I am pleased to provide you with the data for your request within the table at the end of this letter. 

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. 

Table: Number of unique patients dispensed alectinib (Alecensa) cap 150 mg per month from 1 December 2019

Month Number of patients
Dec 2019 29
Jan 2020 26
Feb 2020 36
Mar 2020 36
Apr 2020 33
May 2020 33
Jun 2020 40
Jul 2020 38
Aug 2020 45
Sep 2020 46
Oct 2020 46
Nov 2020 51
Dec 2020 42
Jan 2021 45
Feb 2021 36
Mar 2021 48
Apr 2021 41
May 2021 47
Jun 2021 42
Jul 2021 44
Aug 2021 47
Sep 2021 45
Oct 2021 46
Nov 2021 44
Dec 2021 48

 Please note:

  • The data contains the number of patients per month dispensed alectinib for the period from 01/12/2019 to 31/12/2021. Data from 01/01/2022 is not provided as there is a lag of approximately 6 weeks between dispensing and when data becomes available to Pharmac. Additionally, pharmacies can continue to submit claims up to 6 months after dispensing.
  • The data provided represents publicly funded medicines dispensed in the community based on pharmacy claims; patients dispensed in DHB hospitals are not included in the data.
  • While patient counts are valid at the level given (i.e. per year and month, per chemical, per formulation, per brand), they should not be aggregated, as this may result in double counting of some patients.