Good News For Many Advanced Melanoma Patients: Pharmac Drug Funding Announcement Confirms Better Treatment Options

Melanoma New Zealand welcomes today’s news from Pharmac for increased and new access to funded medicines because it’s long-awaited good news for many New Zealand patients with advanced melanoma.

It means many New Zealand patients with stage 3B to stage 4 melanoma will now have a much-needed lifeline in their fight against this insidious disease with free access to potentially life-saving and life-extending treatment options.

“Melanoma New Zealand has been engaging with Pharmac advocating for increased funding for treatments for melanoma patients and providing technical expertise. Today’s announcement is long overdue, and we are delighted about the difference this will make for patients,” says Andrea Newland, Melanoma New Zealand Chief Executive.

For a long time melanoma patients in New Zealand have had less access to funded treatment options such as immunotherapies and targeted therapies than patients in many other countries including Australia.

“Access to these lifesaving and life-extending melanoma treatments helps bring New Zealand further in line with international standards of care. It empowers melanoma healthcare specialists (and their patients) with a broader range of treatment options, and the ability to provide tailored care,” says Newland.

Specifically, the major steps forward are:

• Unless ‘inoperable’ (unresectable), patients with stage 3B-D have been self-funding or relying on insurance for access to immunotherapy drug Keytruda. Funded Keytruda is now an option for these patients from 1 June 2025.
• Additionally, immunotherapy drug Keytruda can be offered to these patients and stage 4 patients before surgery (it can help to shrink tumours), and/or after surgery (reducing the likelihood of the melanoma recurring).
• BRAF and MEK inhibitor drugs Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekenist (trametinib) are now available to stage 3B-D and stage 4 patients with BRAF mutant melanoma. This offers another option for targeted treatment for these patients, (who may or may not be undergoing surgery as well).

Finlay (Fin) Bergin is someone who could benefit directly. The 28-year-old Auckland man was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma on 10 September 2024 and after two surgeries has been paying for the immunotherapy medicine combination of dabrafenib and trametinib, through a combination of personal savings (Fin’s had some of his KiwiSaver released), parental and family support, and generous donations through a givealittle page set up by his brother.

Fin says, “This [funded treatment] will make a huge difference and put me at ease, because the biggest stress since my diagnosis has been money related.”

Melanoma New Zealand is delighted for the many melanoma patients who will benefit from this increased access to funded melanoma medicines, but we also acknowledge those patients for whom this decision may come too late, or who are not eligible or suitable for these treatments.

This funding is a significant step forward. There is more work to be done, and Melanoma New Zealand will continue to advocate for further improvements for all those impacted by melanoma.

Read the full details of the funding announcement from Pharmac here: https://www.pharmac.govt.nz/news-and-resources/consultations-and-decisions/decision-to-fund-treatments-for-stage-iii-and-iv-melanoma-and-widen-access-to-treatments-for-immune-checkpoint-inhibitor-related-toxicity

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