The petition urges funding of up-to-date therapy for severe Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis for patients for whom other treatments have failed. He said he had six patients at the Southern District Health Board who no longer responded to the available medications. New Zealand has the world’s third-highest rates of IBD and more than 20,000 New Zealanders live with Crohn’s or colitis disease. He understood that one of the yet-to-be-funded medications, Ustekinumab, was "similarly expensive" as currently available medications. Pharmac worked to get the best health outcomes for New Zealanders by funding medicines "within the available budget", he said.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 02, 2020 16:30 UTC