December 07, 2022
Pharmac caves on cystic fibrosis drug
Māori Party co leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the battle to get Pharmac to fund cystic fibrosis medicine Trikafta didn’t need to happen.
The government drug buying agency announced this week it would fund the drug, which can extend life by significantly improving lung function and other symptoms of cystic fibrosis.
It said as with many respiratory illnesses, it was likely Māori experience worse health outcomes than non-Māori with cystic fibrosis.
Ms Ngarewa-Packer says Pharmac needs to stop playing God.
“I’ll never forget the protests these whanau brought, the way we had to see little taimaiti, rangatahi laying out in the rain because they were so desperate to have something like one little drug that would give them quality of life and their whanau quality of life because we all become sick when one of us is sick,” she says.
Ms Ngarewa-Packer says Pharmac made it hard for communities to make their case.