No Blood In This Stone

PHARMAC's latest plan to remove the subsidy from the popular cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, will affect around 10,000 Kiwi patients, ACT New Zealand Health Spokesman Heather Roy said today.

"Lipex, the other funded agent, is not as potent as Lipitor and has side effects that many patients cannot tolerate," Mrs Roy said.

"PHARMAC - yet again - is reducing the range of drugs available to patients, by reducing the choice of drugs available to doctors, when they prescribe a cholesterol-lowering agent.

"Cost, not cost effectiveness, appears to be PHARMAC's main concern. Despite recent Health Ministry research - showing elevated blood cholesterol is a major cause of death - PHARMAC's move to further decrease pharmaceutical costs will claim an additional 60 lives in the first year, according to top cardiologists.

"Health Minister Annette King's lack of comment must be considered tacit approval. She has not held back in recent times from heavily criticising the pharmaceutical industry and community pharmacies. Ms King obviously sees them as charities, not businesses.

"What the Minister fails to understand, is that making a profit, is not inconsistent with saving people's lives," Mrs Roy said.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>