Napier GP Samantha Newman, founder of FemaleGP, campaigned with Huia Te Kanawa, right, to extend Pharmac funding for oral hormone replacement therapy Utrogestan for menopause. Photo / Warren Buckland
Napier GP Samantha Newman, founder of FemaleGP, campaigned with Huia Te Kanawa, right, to extend Pharmac funding for oral hormone replacement therapy Utrogestan for menopause. Photo / Warren Buckland
Two Hawke's Bay women who spearheaded a push to make a "life changing" drug more accessible are celebrating the news of a funding windfall.
Pharmac confirmed earlier this month that it will remove all fundingrestrictions of hormone replacement progesterone, branded in New Zealand as Utrogestan, from December 1.
Hawke's Bay local Huia Te Kanawa and Napier GP Samantha Newman, Founder of FemaleGP, have been long time advocates for the funding.
Te Kanawa said she had a series of life changing symptoms which led to her needing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after she went through menopause a second time after a hysterectomy.
"After the lockdown, I presented with my first ever abnormal smear and from that it went quite radical quite quickly and I had to have a full hysterectomy," she said.
Te Kanawa was unable to produce any hormones and required HRT, among other treatment, to address her symptoms.
She said someone in her position who could not afford the treatment would have been much worse off, particularly Māori and Pacifika wāhine.
"It ranges in price from $54 for a month's supply to $245," she said.
Huia Te Kanawa uses Utrogestan and said without funding it was inaccessible for many women who might have been able to otherwise greatly benefit from it. Photo / Warren Buckland
"I'm in the position where if that's what I need, that's what I need. Not everyone has that advantage."
She said not a lot of women spoke about the importance of accessibility to the medication they needed.
"We want to put a roof over our heads, we want to put food on the table, so medication takes a back seat and that is for all women."
"They will put their own health in jeopardy to make sure the family is ok."
Te Kanawa said this was one of the key issues she and fellow wāhine Janice Hemi-Williams addressed in a letter to Pharmac advocating for the funding.
The letter explains that the menopausal transition is associated with a temporary inability to learn, increased rates of depression and poor job performance.
The letter said that for those without a uterus following a hysterectomy, progesterone decreases recurrence of endometriosis and is associated with improved sleep and mood.
Newman said Te Kanawa and Hemi-WIlliams inspired her to write the letter.
"I'm really not confident in writing things. For me, writing a letter was a really big thing, but they encouraged me to do it and we did it together."
She said HRT wasn't for everyone, but it was good to have it available for people who needed it and Utrogestan was the only treatment of its kind.
"For a lot of women, doctors didn't even suggest it because it was unfunded, so it was not in the general prescribing vernacular," she said.
"For those that can't afford it, they're not getting the gold standard treatment.
''Their previous unfunded treatments had increased risk of breast cancer, cardiovascular arrest and they were more poorly tolerated.
"It can increase life expectancy by up to three years, this new medication. It can just be really life-changing."
Newman said education was important when it came to womens' health and woman having difficulties in their perimenopause and menopausal transitions should know there is a safe, hormonal-based option for some of them.
"We need to start advocating that there are options out there and these include safe hormonal options depending on what is right for you."
Pharmac's director of operations Lisa Williams said up until now progesterone has only been funded for the prevention of pre-term labour in certain clinical circumstances.
"Following our recent budget increase, we are pleased to be able to fund progesterone without restrictions, meaning it will be funded when prescribed for any use.
''This would include the treatment of menopausal symptoms, and for the prevention of recurrent early pregnancy loss," Williams said.