By MARTIN JOHNSTON
Lung experts want the Government to pay for a new drug shown to help two-thirds of patients with poorly controlled asthma.
Merck Sharp & Dohme, which discovered and makes Singulair, lets patients have it for free for a month, after which they must pay $115 a month to stay on it.
Benefits of the drug usually show within a month, if it is going to help.
Pharmac has rejected Merck's application for the Government to buy the drug, but the company is preparing a fresh bid.
It says Singulair can reduce asthma symptoms and the amount of inhaled drugs needed.
Singulair comes as a tablet, with a chewable version considered particularly suitable for children as young as 2, who might have difficulty using inhalers.
Associate Professor Innes Asher, an asthma expert at Starship Children's Hospital, said the drug was a useful addition because it worked differently from the inhaled steroids and other drugs that were the mainstay of asthma treatment.
She wants Pharmac to buy Singulair for patients who fail to do well on their current treatment.
She said a third of patients with poorly controlled asthma did well on it, a third gained a slight improvement and the rest received no benefit.
"It's unfair not to be able to offer this drug to people who might benefit from it."
She said the cost put it out of reach of many New Zealand families.
"Many patients we would like to start on it but can't because we know they can't afford it."
Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said Singulair might benefit some groups of patients, but failed to offer significant advantages over existing medicines and was expensive.
nzherald.co.nz/health
Push for asthma drug to be subsidised after initial free month
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.