9. BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Is he satisfied with the way Pharmac is handling applications from those requiring treatment with Herceptin; if so, why?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
Yes; the member will be aware that Pharmac keeps Herceptin under active review as new data comes to hand, including this week. Additionally, the processes around high-cost medicines, in general, are one of the questions being considered by the national medicines strategy consultation currently being undertaken by the Hon Peter Dunne.
On what basis was the approximate cost of $300 million per annum made for the funding of Herceptin and quoted by both Pharmac and the previous Minister of Health, and was this costing independently verified?
I am not familiar with the figure of $300 million per annum. The figures that are generally used for treatment with Herceptin are around a quarter of that, although they are dependent somewhat on the weight of the patient.
Dr Jackie BlueWhat did the Minister mean when he said in the House on 10 October that women with breast cancer were not worth the cost of funding Herceptin, and why is it that Ministers of Health in 23 other OECD countries think the opposite and care more about their women and their families?
It is almost certain that the member is misquoting me, but I will say to her that Pharmac keeps Herceptin under active review as new data comes to hand, including this week.
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
What occurred between the election in 2005 and March 2006—because he said he was not aware of any such figure, I want to read this to him from the Evening Standard on 5 August 2005: “The problem is, Mr McNee said, that to pay for its use in all women who could be eligible would cost up to $300 million a year. That would absorb half of Pharmac’s current drug-buying budget.”; what happened between that quote and March 2006 for the annual cost of Herceptin funding quoted by both Pharmac and the current Minister of Health to be reduced from $300 million per annum to just $30 million per annum, where do the new figures come from, and why was the pre-election cost estimate 1,000 percent higher than the post-election estimate?
I am afraid I still do not know. It really does not matter how many times I am asked, I will not know where the earlier figure came from. I will say to the House that the likely cost of Herceptin to the drug budget, depending on the type of treatment, will be $30 million per annum or a little less.
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
When the Minister says he does not know, have I not provided him with clear evidence that there are people in Pharmac prepared to lie to women who are suffering from cancer, prepared to lie to their Minister, prepared to lie to the media, and prepared to lie to the public, and is it not time, given that the facts are now out before the public, that he should get them in and fire them for such deceit?
I have been the Minister of Health now for about 16 months or something of that sort, during which time no member of Pharmac that I am aware of has used the figure of $300 million per annum. Pharmac has repeatedly said that the costs of Herceptin are $30 million or less.
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
I seek leave to table five documents—rather than do them one by one, because they are so similar I will read them out. There is an article from August 2005 with Wayne McNee talking about $300 million. He is the chief executive officer of Pharmac. Article two is from August 2005, where the Minister of Health has been misled using the same figure. Article three is from March 2006 and has Wayne McNee saying it now costs $30 million—10 times less. Then there is an article from May 2006 quoting Pharmac now saying Herceptin is $30 million a year. There is also the OECD country entry showing that we are the only country in the OECD so far refusing to fund Herceptin for early-stage breast cancer.