Pharmac does Glivec deal for cancer patients

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

More than 200 patients will be able to receive the breakthrough cancer drug Glivec for free if Government agencies approve new proposals.

Pharmac announced yesterday that it had reached a provisional deal with the drug's maker, Novartis, to buy Glivec.

The drug would be available from December 1 to patients in all stages of the rare disease chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), and to some with a particular cancer of the stomach and intestines if inoperable and spreading.

Previously, Pharmac has proposed financing the drug only for patients with advanced CML, and under strict criteria.

Patients, doctors and support groups yesterday applauded the new scheme, although it is yet to be approved by the Pharmac board this month after public consultation.

Fran O'Keefe, 53, diagnosed with CML in January, said she hoped to switch to Glivec capsules from injections of the cancer drug interferon alpha, which often "zapped" her energy.

"I'm just plodding along. I have good and bad days on the interferon," she said.

Pharmac also plans paying for patients in the early "chronic" phase of CML to have Glivec as first-line therapy if the Health Ministry's drugs-safety division approves. Currently interferon must first have failed for them. A decision is due by March.

Caterina De Nave, a CML patient in the Living with Leukaemia group, said they were "absolutely over the moon [about Pharmac's move] - and also because it will be approved for first-line treatment".

"Our group was talking about how that was going to be our next battle," said Ms De Nave, head of the drama and comedy unit at TV3.

The Leukaemia and Blood Foundation, which ran a high-profile campaign before the election for state funding of Glivec, said its message that Glivec was the most effective treatment had sunk in.

The price negotiated for Glivec is technically $58,000 to $88,000 a year per patient, but Novartis has agreed to a confidential "risk-sharing" arrangement with Pharmac, and to price cuts of up to 60 per cent on other drugs.

Pharmac previously tagged Glivec as too expensive, but chief executive Wayne McNee said yesterday that it was now cost-effective as part of the total package negotiated with Novartis.

Professor Peter Browett, of Auckland University, said the access criteria for CML patients in the latest proposal were in line with what he and colleagues in the Haematology Society had sought.

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