Pharmac has announced it will fund continuous glucose monitors for New Zealanders with type 1 diabetes. Photo / 123RF
Pharmac has announced it will fund continuous glucose monitors for New Zealanders with type 1 diabetes. Photo / 123RF
Pharmac will fund continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, and insulin pump consumables for people with type 1 diabetes from October - a lifesaving breakthrough hailed as “monumental” by Diabetes New Zealand.
About 12,000 New Zealanders with diabetes are expected to get funded continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) in the first year of funding, which will rise to more than 18,000 after five years.
There are about 4800 people currently using insulin pumps, and this is expected to increase to almost 10,000 over five years.
Heather Verry, chief executive of Diabetes NZ, said it was a “monumental day for the diabetes community”.
“Free access to CGMs and insulin pumps will not only be life-changing for thousands of New Zealanders with type 1 diabetes – it will also be lifesaving. We know that for our type 1 community, this is more than just vital technology, it’s a lifeline for better health and greater freedom. Quite simply, it’s a game-changer.”
Endocrinologist and president of the NZ Society for the Study of Diabetes, Dr Rosemary Hall, said the announcement “is the biggest day for people with type 1 diabetes in Aotearoa since the arrival of insulin”.
“Now we have the tools to help people access the highest quality of care. We’re going to see a reduction in diabetes-related distress, fewer hospitalisations and medical complications, and huge improvement in our community’s mental wellbeing and quality of life.”
Pharmac has announced a funding breakthrough for people with type 1 diabetes. Photo / File
Chair of the National Clinical Network for Children and Young People with Diabetes, Dr Jo McClintock, said children and young people living with type 1 diabetes “are unlikely to see anything more important than this decision, in their lifetime”.
“The impact of having this technology available for the parents and loved ones of young people with type 1 diabetes is going to be immeasurable – there will be lots of happy tears within whānau today.”
Continuous glucose monitors are small wearable devices that monitor glucose levels automatically, with readings given every few minutes. People wearing them can check their levels using apps on their phones.
The devices reduce the need for finger prick checks and give people with diabetes and their healthcare teams much more information about whether they are within their target glucose range.
The Pharmac funding will apply from October 1. Adrienne Martin, Pharmac’s manager of pharmaceutical funding, acknowledged it had been a long wait to get to this point.
During consultation, some people asked Pharmac to also fund Medtronic’s brand of CGMs and insulin pumps. This wouldn’t happen, Martin said, because doing so would have restarted the commercial process.
“We have been told by our clinical advisors that the options we have chosen will give people with type 1 diabetes choice and flexibility and that they will work for most people.
“We have made some changes to the decision to make it easier for people using the Medtronic pump to change to one of the funded options. I appreciate this will be difficult news for the people who wanted us to add the Medtronic devices and hope that the changes we have made will make a change easier for them.”
From January 1, 2025, the Medtronic MiniMed 770G insulin pump will no longer be funded for people new to insulin pumps. Funding for the consumables will stop on October 1, 2026.
Pharmac was recently given an extra $604m over four years, which will enable funding of 54 new medicines. That doesn’t include the funding for type 1 diabetics announced today, which will be paid for from different budgets.
