Nutrition Replacements Fully Funded For Adults With Crohn’s Disease Who Use Them As Their Only Source Of Nutrition

Pharmac is fully funding two brands of liquid nutrition replacements for adults with Crohn’s disease who use them as their only source of nutrition.

The nutrition replacements are Ensure Plus and Fortisip (200ml bottles, 1.5kcal/ml) and changes to funding will take place from 1 July 2025.

Adrienne Martin, Pharmac’s Manager Pharmaceutical Funding says, “we are removing the additional cost on Ensure Plus and Fortisip so adults with Crohn’s disease, who use them as their only source of nutrition, can continue to access and benefit from fully funded treatment.”

Crohn’s is a type of inflammatory bowel disease. Some people with this condition use these nutrition replacements as their exclusive diet for a period of 4–12 weeks.

The goal of this exclusive diet is to rest the gut, to reduce inflammation and promote healing. This also may help manage symptoms and reduce the likelihood of needing surgery.

A different fully funded nutrition replacement was previously available for these people, but the supplier stopped making it.

“We are grateful to those who provided feedback to our proposal and shared it with their community. Having this additional information from clinicians and the community helps with our decisions.”

"Our role is to help people access the medicines and related products they need to improve their health. We estimate around 200 adults with Crohn’s disease will benefit from the funding each year." says Martin

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