Remdesivir notification and stock order forms

Thank you for your request dated 16 March 2022 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to remdesivir. You requested: 

1. all remdesivir waiver forms (fine for names and patient contact details to be removed)
2. copies of orders of remdesivir stock ordered from onelink 

I am pleased to provide you with the information below in response to your request. 

Remdesivir treatment notifications

Between 10 June 2021 and 28 February 2022, Pharmac received 127 remdesivir treatment notifications from DHB hospitals. Each notification was for a unique person however, we are unable to guarantee that each person notified to Pharmac was treated with remdesivir as we do not hold this information. 

From 1 March 2022, remdesivir treatment notification forms are no longer required to be sent to Pharmac. This was communicated by our decision to widen access to remdesivir for COVID-19(external link) which was published to our website on 28 February 2022. 

Please see the table below for the number of patients notified to receive treatment with remdesivir, split by DHB of domicile (that is, DHB of the patient’s address, not DHB of treatment). 

Table: Patients notified to receive treatment with remdesivir, by DHB of domicile

Request for remdesivir waiver forms

Please find a copy of the remdesivir treatment notification form template (“Eligibility Criteria for access to remdesivir”) attached with this response for your reference. 

Please note that we approach our assessment of requests for information under the OIA on the basis that once we release the information to you it becomes available to any other party in that exact form (whether by you distributing it to others or by virtue of us receiving the same request from a different third party). 

We have not provided copies of the remdesivir treatment notification forms that were submitted to Pharmac as we would need to withhold the information entered on the form(s) by the requestor(s) and the information not withheld is available on the form template. This is because:

• we must protect the privacy of patients receiving treatment and medical practitioners requesting supply of the treatment (section 9(2)(a) of the OIA); and
• our current agreement with Gilead requires that the number of vials of remdesivir secured is kept confidential, therefore releasing the quantities of remdesivir requested on the treatment notification form(s) could prejudice or disadvantage the commercial position of the supplier and/or our ability to carry on future negotiations (section 9(2)(b)(ii) and/or 9(2)(j) of the OIA). 

As required under the OIA, we also considered whether, in the circumstances, the withholding of this information was outweighed by other considerations which render it desirable, in the public interest, to make this information available. In this case we did not consider that the public interest outweighed the reasons for withholding the information. 

If you would still like to receive copies of all the submitted forms, after reviewing this response and noting information will need to be withheld, please let us know via email to enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz and we will consider your request further. 

Request for copies of remdesivir stock orders from OneLink

Pharmac does not hold copies of remdesivir stock orders from OneLink and OneLink is a private company (that is, OneLink is not subject to the OIA). Therefore, we have not provided copies of the remdesivir stock orders as we do not hold these documents and we do not believe they are held by any other Crown or local authority (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.