It is so important that New Zealanders are able to access new, emerging and effective cancer treatments that are the standard of care in other parts of the world.” – Sir Sam Neill, actor, New Zealander, and stage 3 blood cancer patient, June 2023 For a high-income, developed country, New Zealand has a particularly poor system of...Continue Reading
By Rodger Tiedemann 5 Sep, 2023 05:00 AM OPINION It is distressing to have to tell my cancer patients, in each and every clinic, that effective treatments exist that could significantly extend their lives, but that sadly these treatments are not available in New Zealand. We are not speaking of the latest cutting-edge medicines. Far from it....Continue Reading
A Waikato police officer has been told to consider a move to Australia to treat his cancer. Will Hamilton was diagnosed with blood cancer multiple myeloma in November 2022, a day after he and his partner Amber found out they were pregnant with their second child. Read the full article here: Father of two told...Continue Reading
The Shawview Report, commissioned by Johnson & Johnson, is a valuable, timely round-up of the inherent problems in our medicines funding system and offers some good solutions, including innovative funding mechanisms in action in other countries, as well as the immediate need to fund Pharmac’s current backlog of approved medicines waiting for funding. If...Continue Reading
The silken ropes holding 26 pearls around Jacq Dwyer’s neck are a beautiful reminder of her victory over a devastating illness, but one she will fight for the rest of her life. Dwyer is well known in South Taranaki as an advocate for her Pātea community, a historian, author, a cancer survivor and baker of...Continue Reading
Dr Ruth Spearing, a distinguished haematologist and medical researcher with a strong interest in CLL, has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to haematology in the King’s Birthday Honours. Dr Ruth Spearing has been a consultant haematologist and taken a lead nationally in haematology trials. She was involved...Continue Reading
New Zealand sits at the bottom of the western world for access to modern medicines. Pharmac decide what drugs we buy and when. So why aren’t Kiwis getting the medicines they need? Listen to Rachel Smalley discuss this topic: Rachel Smalley. NZ’s Shameful Health SecretContinue Reading
American multiple myeloma patient Andrew Sninsky, 75, is cycling around New Zealand to raise awareness of a cancer without a cure. Myeloma is a blood cancer of the plasma cells which are white blood cells in the bone marrow that make antibodies. Myeloma is incurable and the patient lives with it for the rest of...Continue Reading
It takes the nation’s drug-buying agency, Pharmac, an average of 7.7 years to make funding decisions about potentially life-saving medicines, a report has found. The Pharmac’s Medicines Waiting Lists: Impacts on Patients in Aotearoa New Zealand report, commissioned by lobby group Medicines New Zealand found it took on an average nearly eight years to reach a decision on applications across...Continue Reading
In the first two months of 2021, 27 patients were harmed by cancer treatment delays, the Otago Daily Times reported. Three became so sick while waiting they were unfit for treatment. Have you been affected? Please email: newsdesk@nzherald.co.nz Please read more here: Cancer patients harmed by treatment delaysContinue Reading
