Pharmac To Fund Two New Combination Treatments

Consultation on proposed changes to diabetes medicine criteria

Pharmac is asking for feedback on proposed changes to the access criteria for some funded medicines used to treat type 2 diabetes.

Pharmac is proposing to change who can receive funded treatment with empagliflozin, dulaglutide and liraglutide. This includes widening access to these medicines by lowering the clinical threshold for heart disease risk and removing ethnicity-based eligibility criteria.

If approved, around 10,000 more people are expected to benefit from these treatments in the first year, increasing to around 23,000 after five years.

Pharmac’s Chief Medical Officer Dr David Hughes said the proposal will improve access to this medicine for around 10,000 New Zealanders.

“These medicines help lower blood sugar and, for people at high risk, reduce the likelihood of heart and kidney complications related to type 2 diabetes,” says Dr Hughes.

If approved, the changes would apply to new applications from 1 August 2026 onwards. People who are already receiving these medicines would continue to have access and would not notice any change.

Consultation is open until 5pm, Thursday 28 May 2026.

Feedback can be emailed to consult@pharmac.govt.nz or provided through Pharmac’s online consultation form.

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