Vertex has Announced This Morning ...........
4 August 2020
Owing to New Zealand public pressure, we are thrilled that Vertex has announced this morning it will proactively engage with Pharmac for the funding of Trikafta.
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Power to the people!! This is such great news for Bella and all the beautiful souls that need this drug. Bless you all, and let's hope things move quickly.
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I am sorry to say having watched the Pharmac and drug company dance for over 20 years I'm not sure if we will see anything soon. Furthermore successive governments have hidden behind Pharmac while delivering us access to drugs at a level which is at the bottom of the OECD. Sure it's only 250 million for Trikafta but the problem is there are perhaps 50 other drugs that other sick people are trying to get for various illnesses. The other thing to keep in mind is Pharmac get about a billion a year from government to buy our drugs and they are very unlikely to want to drop 25% of it on 1 drug. And despite the drug company making comforting noises they won't drop the price to anything near what Pharmac is prepared to pay. Pharmac obfuscate on reviewing drugs for years before declining them. The real issue is the government is underfunding drugs compared to other OECD countries.
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I hope I'm wrong for everyone's sake especially for this young lady who is just lovely.