Hon David Seymour
Associate Minister of Health

Associate Health Minister David Seymour has empowered Pharmac and Medsafe to explore the utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up their processes.

“Faster access to medicines has always been a priority of mine. For many New Zealanders, pharmaceuticals are life or death, or the difference between a life of pain and suffering or living freely,” Mr Seymour says.

“I believe that technology absorption greatly increases productivity and see Al playing a role in a more efficient Pharmac and Medsafe.

“Finding efficiencies in medicine assessment processes means patients can access the treatments they need faster.

“I wrote to Medsafe about the adoption of AI in their processes to speed up assessments. I wanted to see if the use of AI could mean spending less time on tedious, repetitive tasks that often slow down the assessment process.

“I am very encouraged by Medsafe’s response (attached). This is something that they have welcomed and recognise could reduce assessment times.

Some of the potential uses of AI in future within medicine regulation include:

· streamlining our assessment report generation allowing Medsafe to more quickly provide information in the public domain;

· assisting with side effect profiles and trend assessments;

· assisting with large information dossier assessments as part of the analysis required for decision making on new medicine applications.

“I have also offered my support to Pharmac in empowering it to use Al in its work. I see this being a matter of priority in Pharmac's new data and digital strategy. I have requested information on where some of the potential future uses of Al in Pharmac,” Mr Seymour says.

“Pharmac have responded and will be exploring opportunities for AI to increase medicines access. I look forward to continuing this discussion with them.

“We’re committed to ensuring that the regulatory system for pharmaceuticals is not unreasonably holding back access. It will lead to more Kiwis being able to access the medicines they need to live a fulfilling life.”

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