Drug row ignores patients

Prostate and breast cancer patients have been caught in the middle of a row between the Government drug-buying agency Pharmac and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

The company has withdrawn its Zoladex cancer drug from the New Zealand market after it refused Pharmac's request to cut its price 20 per cent, saying it would not be commercially viable.

Its competitor, Abbot Laboratories, last week agreed to a 20 per cent reduction for its prostate cancer drug Lucrin. As part of the deal, Pharmac will fund Abbot's arthritis drug.

The developments have health professionals and cancer groups worried. About 1200 men - just over half of all of the country's late-stage prostate cancer patients - and 250 women with breast cancer use Zoladex.

Prostate Cancer Foundation president Barry Young slammed Pharmac's move, saying the agency had not considered the impact on patients.

"They are generally in a pretty delicate state, emotionally and physically, and it's just a completely rotten thing to do to them."

Breast Cancer Advocacy Coalition chairwoman Libby Burgess said Pharmac appeared not to have sought proper advice in its haste to save costs.

"This is clearly a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, doing a deal to benefit one patient group at the expense of another to save money."

Ms Burgess said treatments with Zoladex were long term and switching from one treatment to the other could compromise results.

Auckland City Hospital oncologist Nicole McCarthy said the developments made her anxious.

"We suddenly go from a drug we are used to using to having to prescribe something that we really have no data for - all based on a cost-saving issue at Pharmac," she said.

Wellington prostate cancer specialist David Lamb, who has made a submission to Pharmac, said it would be unacceptable to clinicians and patients alike if "this unproven treatment" was taken as a standard.

The National Party's associate health spokeswoman, Jackie Blue, a former breast physician, said cancer patients would be the losers if Pharmac played off the drug companies against each other.

Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said AstraZeneca's decision showed a "woeful disregard for the needs of patients" and was a shortsighted decision from one of the world's most profitable drug firms.

"We are already paying almost 30 per cent more than the UK for some strengths of goserelin [the generic name of the drug]. Pharmac is simply seeking a fair deal for the taxpayer."

The company, however, said the drug was up to 40 per cent cheaper here than in Australia.

General manager Lance Gravatt said Pharmac's move meant it was no longer commercially viable to supply Zoladex, which had been available in New Zealand since 1998.