Using the budget increase to fund more medicines
This year, Te Pātaka Whaioranga – Pharmac was pleased to receive a $191 million increase to the combined pharmaceutical budget for the next two years.
“This budget increase was the biggest we’ve had since we were formed almost 30 years ago,” says Pharmac’s Chief Executive Sarah Fitt.
“This extra budget means we can keep making more treatments available to more New Zealanders. As soon as the budget increase was confirmed we immediately began talking with pharmaceutical suppliers about possible agreements for treatments on our options for investment list.”
“Every dollar we get, we spend on medicines, vaccines, devices, and related products. With new and often expensive medicines being developed all the time, there will always be medicines we won’t be able to afford. We will, however, continue to use our expertise to secure treatments that improve health outcomes for New Zealanders.”
We received a $191 million increase to our budget in July 2022
Bringing our budget for the 2022/2023 financial year to $1.186 billion and the 2023/2024 financial year to $1.245 billion
So far, since the budget uplift, Pharmac has made 29 new investments
This includes 12 new treatments and widened access to 17 treatments