Pharmac is now funding new medicines for people with lung cancer, ovarian cancer and severe asthma.
The drug-buying agency has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca, which will give discounts on three medicines Pharmac already buys, as well as extend a medicine for ovarian cancer, which will mean more people can get it.
Health Minister Andrew Little said the stage three lung-cancer treatment was "particularly significant" because it "offers people with lung cancer the potential to extend their lives more than what is possible now, especially when combined with what might come out of a multi-million dollar research programme about to get under way".
Little said cancer research was important because it was "difficult for patients and doctors to recognise the symptoms for what they are, and getting access to scans or biopsies for a timely diagnosis may not be easy".