{"id":439463,"date":"2026-05-22T04:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/439463\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T04:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:35:37","slug":"no-logic-to-pharmacs-proposal-to-change-access-to-type-2-diabetes-drug-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/439463\/","title":{"rendered":"‘No Logic’ To Pharmac’s Proposal To Change Access To Type 2 Diabetes Drug – Doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Radio<\/a>
\nFriday, 22 May 2026, 1:56 pm
Article: RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Nine
\nTo Noon<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A
\ndiabetes organisation is worried about the possible impact
\nof a Pharmac proposal to remove ethnicity as a criteria for
\nseveral type 2 diabetes drugs.<\/p>\n

M\u0101ori and Pasifika are
\nat greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and in 2021
\nit was decided to prioritise access to these
\npatients.<\/p>\n

Now Pharmac is asking for feedback on
\nchanging the Special Authority access. It would reduce the
\nrequired level of cardiovascular risk for those with type 2
\ndiabetes from 15 to 10 percent, but also remove
\nthe criteria allowing M\u0101ori and Pasifika access without
\nhaving to demonstrate specific cardiovascular or renal risk
\nfactors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Health Minister Simeon Brown and
\nAssociate Health Minister David Seymour said when people can
\naccess their medicines easily, they stay healthier for
\nlonger.<\/p>\n

John Baker is chair of the Diabetes Foundation
\nAotearoa and an endocrinologist at Middlemore Hospital. He
\nsays the proposal feels like a great leap
\nbackwards.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know why the ministers have
\ndecided to go down this path. I mean, there’s no logic to
\nit, really,” he told Nine to Noon on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n

Advertisement – scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

The problem with that, he says, is the “other
\npeople” will access the drugs based on a
\nprobability of cardiovascular risk<\/a> – not the proven
\nincreased likelihood Maori and Pacifika have of developing
\ndiabetic kidney disease.<\/p>\n

Approximately one in 12
\nM\u0101ori have diabetes, and for Pacific people it is one in
\nseven – compared to roughly one in 20 P\u0101keh\u0101, co-chair of
\nMahitahi Matehuka (National Diabetes Network) Dr Ryan Paul
\ntold RNZ earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Baker said there were
\nother drugs that targeted cardiovascular risk, but the
\nmedicines affected by the proposed change – empagliflozin,
\nempagliflozin with metformin, dulaglutide and liraglutide –
\nare “the first drugs which have been shown specifically to
\nimpact on diabetic kidney disease”.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pharmac
\nsays the changes would widen access for the greater
\npopulation, with 23,000 more people accessing the drugs in
\nfive years’ time.<\/p>\n

“The effect of the change that
\nthey’re proposing is that the drugs will be given to people
\nwho don’t have a risk of diabetic kidney disease,” Baker
\nsaid. “And that doesn’t make sense\u2026 given that there are
\nother drugs we can use.”<\/p>\n

Consultation on the proposal
\nclosed next week.<\/p>\n

In a response to criticism of the
\nchanges, Seymour said Kiwis “shouldn’t miss out [on
\nmedicines] because of where their ancestors came
\nfrom”.<\/p>\n

“If this proposal is approved, around 10,000
\nmore people are expected to benefit from these medicines in
\nthe first year, increasing to around 23,000 after five
\nyears. We expect that around a third of those people will be
\nfrom M\u0101ori or Pasifika
\nbackgrounds.”<\/p>\n

\n\u00a9 Scoop Media<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Radio<\/a><\/p>\n

New Zealand’s public broadcaster, providing comprehensive NZ news and current affairs, specialist audio features and documentaries.<\/p>\n

Radio New Zealand is a Crown entity established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. Radio New Zealand News are vital elements in our programming, providing impartial news and information to New Zealanders every day. Radio New Zealand (RNZ) provides listeners with exciting and independent radio programmes in accordance with the Radio New Zealand Charter.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday, 22 May 2026, 1:56 pmArticle: RNZ Nine To Noon A diabetes organisation is worried about the possible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3535,134,7057,23753,3523,111,24636,139,69,147673,45,11112,153819],"class_list":["post-439463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-diabetes","tag-health","tag-healthcare-industry","tag-maori","tag-medical","tag-new-zealand","tag-newsworthy","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-primary-health","tag-rnz","tag-scoop","tag-world-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}