Lack of new funding for blood cancer medicines worrying for patients. Photo: 123RF
Blood cancer patients, advocates and doctors say the lack of new funding for medicines in the Budget locks in four more years of "denied access and patient harm".
There was a huge public backlash after last year's Budget failed to include promised funding for more cancer drugs, forcing the government to subsequently announce an extra $604 million for Pharmac over four years.
However, Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand, the Blood Cancer Alliance, and the Cancer Society said while the government was "re-celebrating" last year's announcements, that money was already allocated, which meant there was no money for new treatments.
In a joint statement, they have called on the government to clear Pharmac's "backlog" of unfunded medicines.
Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand chief executive Tim Edmonds said only 180 blood cancer patients benefited from last year's funding boost - less than 1 percent of all New Zealanders living with a blood cancer.
"This Budget was a chance to deliver on promises to improve access to cancer medicines but once again, blood cancer patients have been left behind.
"For many patients who had hoped for good news today, waiting another year may simply not be an option."
A letter to the government in March, signed by more than 50 haematologists, raised concerns about how funding was being prioritised by Pharmac and described the situation as a "fundamental health policy failure".
They warned of eroding trust, low morale, and avoidable deaths due to delays in funding clinically proven medicines.
One of its signatories, consultant haematologist Rodger Tiedemann, said New Zealand languished at the bottom of the OECD for access to modern medicines.
"It's clear from Budget 2025 that we were ignored. When did it become okay for the New Zealand government to overlook the needs of New Zealanders with blood cancer?"
Every year approximately 2800 people are diagnosed with blood cancer in New Zealand, and there was currently no way to prevent or screen those cancers.
Cancer Society chief executive Nicola Coom said medicines were the primary treatment option for them.
"This growing group has been left behind again. Relying on private fundraising and GoFundMe campaigns is not a solution.
"New Zealand must do better and fund blood cancer medicines. This budget has let this group down."
Ōtaki resident Rob Crozier, 77, was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) at 54.
Now 77, he is still paying $13,000 a year for health insurance, which pays for unfunded drugs approved in New Zealand.
"But that's not an option for everyone, and I don't know whether they actually still offer that kind of insurance."
He was at Parliament for Budget Day as a trustee of CLL New Zealand, having lobbied for years for better funding for treatments.
"I was corresponding with the previous Health Minister Dr Shane Reti, who said he was waiting for the Cancer Control Agency report on availability of blood cancer medicines, which came out last year.
"So we had hoped for even a modest increase in funding, but we've been disappointed again."
Crozier said the unequal treatment of blood cancer patients compared with patients with solid tumours was particularly unfair given the lack of alternatives.
"You can't treat leukaemia with surgery or radiation, which are options for other cancers, it can only be done with medicine.
"There are all these fantastic new medicines out there, but you can only access them if you're super rich. And I'm not super rich."
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