COMMENT: The cost and availability of expensive new medicines like Keytruda are still at risk from the TPP despite government assurances.

It sounds hollow, hypocritical and heartless every time National says that decisions on funding must be left to Pharmac, writes Audrey Young.

WATCH: Auckland student owes his life to the generosity of strangers, friends and family who raise money for life-saving melanoma drugs.

Patients who have had miraculous results with melanoma drugs will join dying patients and their families to petition Govt to boost funding for Pharmac.

New Zealand is about to have the honour of hosting the formal signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement by trade ministers from 12 nations of the Pacific rim.

In New Zealand we have a love/hate relationship with Pharmac, the agency that decides which drugs our Government will pay for.

Two petitions are circulating for the funding of the new immunotherapy drug against melanoma, Keytruda.

Kiwis are waiting for more than 35 cost-effective medicines recommended by a Pharmac advisory committee, a lobby group for the pharmaceutical industry says.

Pharmac is possibly the most publicly respected body in this country.

Tim Groser has a sales job in front of him after the Trans-Pacific Partnership kept the doors open wide to foreign investment in Auckland's red hot housing market.

Most people will be more than aware that, like all public relations campaigns, this one will not reveal the full picture.

It may be difficult at first for observers to grasp the magnitude of what has happened with the trade liberalisation deal just reached in the TPP.

FRAN O'SULLIVAN: Geneva has the WTO. Brussels hosts the European Union. Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership put Auckland on the map?

The TPP could be improved after a few years, Trade Minister Tim Groser has said, acknowledging NZ lost against powerful forces that limited dairy sector rewards.

New Zealand and 11 other countries strike Pacific trade pact - a deal that will affect 40 per cent of world's economy.

What deals have other countries by signing up to the TPP deal?

OPINION: Trade Minister conceded a few nasty points but his brinksmanship in TPP negotiations allows him to stare down critics, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

An overwhelming number of New Zealanders support the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use, the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey shows.

Leading American trade economist Professor Peter Petri is optimistic that the Trans Pacific Partnership will turn out to be less damaging to Pharmac than people fear.

New Zealand is heading towards a two-tier health system, and it could get a whole lot worse, writes George Laking.

New Zealanders' access to safe and affordable medicines could be limited under a massive trade deal being secretly negotiated, opposition parties say.

Alarm at the provisions of a leaked draft of the investment chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is premature to say the least, says Stephen Jacobi.

When her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in November, Abbey Looker decided she couldn't walk down the aisle with anyone but him.

A teenager with a life-threatening illness has had a "miracle" response to a drug Pharmac said it wouldn't fund.

Despite being born only two minutes apart, Axel is considerably smaller than his twin brother, and has a raft of significant health problems to boot.

Obesity might be a risk factor for gout, but new research has suggested that being overweight doesn't make the condition any worse.

The cost of new "generic" versions of Herceptin and other such pharmaceuticals looks likely to become a casualty of the TPP agreement, writes George Laking.

Kiwi babies look likely to get free vaccinations against chickenpox and rotavirus later this year - up to six years after Australia.