“The ACT Party welcomes PHARMAC recognising New Zealanders are asking for more transparency on which medicines it fund but today's announcement falls short of providing the information needed,” says ACT’s Deputy Leader and Health spokesperson Brooke van Velden.

“All of the information PHARMAC has released for 'transparency' is already available online. What it has done is save people time going through the application tracker for individual medicines and created lists.

“What these lists lack is the vital information we need for real transparency, including:

• When was the medicine first added to the priority list?
• How long has the medicine sat on the list?
• When did PHARMAC last consider the medicine worthy for investment?

“There are medicines on PHARMAC's new priority list that have sat unfunded for up to 16-years. New Zealanders deserve to know answers to these questions.

“For every medicine that needs funding, there are people suffering from illness and chronic pain. Some are waiting years for medicines to be approved by PHARMAC.

PHARMAC should release the dates so we can have a more constructive discussion around PHAMAC’s timeliness to approve medicines.”

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