Special Authority and dispensing data for pembrolizumab and nivolumab

OIA response

Thank you for your request dated 4 April 2022 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to prembrolizumab and nivolumab. You requested:

The latest data by month on number of Special Authority’s – initial and renewal for the 2 immunotherapies funded for melanoma in New Zealand, pembrolizumab and nivolumab (as previously received in the attached pdf) Could I please request this from October 2021 – latest data available? 

Following on from our previous response of 22 November 2021 regarding your request for

information, please refer to the end of this letter for an update of pembrolizumab and nivolumab Special Authority application numbers. We have included data from the previous requests with this response to provide a full 2021 summary of Special Authority applications.

Table 1: Special Authority application approvals for pembrolizumab

Month submitted

Initial Applications

Approvals - initial

Renewal Applications

Approval - Renewal

Total applications

Total approvals

2021-01-01

24

22

64

59

88

81

2021-02-01

26

24

41

38

67

62

2021-03-01

38

34

66

55

104

89

2021-04-01

22

21

52

50

74

71

2021-05-01

37

33

66

59

103

92

2021-06-01

21

20

51

47

72

67

2021-07-01

28

26

65

61

93

87

2021-08-01

25

25

58

48

83

73

2021-09-01

38

37

47

41

85

78

2021-10-01

24

22

67

56

91

78

2021-11-01

29

28

53

50

82

78

2021-12-01

31

29

64

57

95

86

2022-01-01

22

22

44

35

66

57

2022-02-01

39

37

46

40

85

77

2022-03-01

42

36

71

61

113

97

 

Table 2: Special Authority application approvals for nivolumab

Month submitted

Initial Applications

Approvals - initial

Renewal Applications

Approval - Renewal

Total applications

Total approvals

2021-01-01

0

0

4

3

4

3

2021-02-01

0

0

0

0

0

0

2021-03-01

0

0

0

0

0

0

2021-04-01

0

0

1

1

1

1

2021-05-01

0

0

0

0

0

0

2021-06-01

0

0

2

2

2

2

2021-07-01

0

0

0

0

0

0

2021-08-01

0

0

1

1

1

1

2021-09-01

1

1

0

0

1

1

2021-10-01

2

2

1

0

3

2

2021-11-01

2

1

0

0

2

1

2021-12-01

6

1

0

0

6

1

2022-01-01

1

1

0

0

1

1

2022-02-01

0

0

2

2

2

2

2022-03-01

0

0

3

3

3

3

Please note:

  • This is an update of the best available data for this period.
  • The data provided is a count of Special Authority approvals, not patients. They may not necessarily exactly represent the number of patients being dispensed the relevant medicine in a given period.
  • If a patient has had more than one relevant Special Authority approval, they will be counted more than once in this data.

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.