ACT has centered its newest health policy on requiring a biennial Medicines Strategy from the Ministry of Health.

It hopes the strategy will provide global analysis of development in medicines, ensure regular performance reporting and benchmarking of Pharmac, require MedSafe to approve any drug or medical device approved by a similar foreign body within one week, and regularly review pharmacist-only and prescription-only classifications to ensure the benefits outweigh the cost of limiting access to medication for common ailments.

Party leader David Seymour said Kiwis can’t rely on the luck of the draw or politically motivated funding announcements, with New Zealand ranked consistently as one of the worst performers in the OECD with accessing medicines.

“Between 2012 — 2021, New Zealand was at the bottom of the OECD pack in launching new medicines. Of 460 new medicines, 16 per cent were launched in New Zealand, compared with 34 per cent for Australia and an OECD average of 41 per cent.”

Seymour said the Strategy will ensure timely and affordable access to medicines, ensure taxpayer money is spent effectively, prioritise within a fixed budget, and manage the regulatory environment to remove unnecessary barriers to accessing medicine.

He said performance benchmarking Pharmac would provide information to ensure the sector is maximising productivity and treating as many Kiwis as possible.

ACT’s criticism of Pharmac’s performances can be traced back to the plan of a trans-Tasman therapeutic products regulator in 2014, when then-Health Minister Jonathan Coleman put out a joint-statement with Australia’s Peter Dutton (then-Health Minister at the time) saying the cost and benefits to both countries didn’t add up.

Coleman then prioritised upgrading our own health products regulation scheme, to keep in touch with global standards.

Meanwhile, NZ First leader Winston Peters wants to replace Pharmac with a “model that works”, with an extra $1.3 billion per year.

ACT’s coalition partner National thinks differently on Pharmac and wants to balance the books with its funding.

It says Labour has left a $724 million hole in Pharmac’s budget over the next four years, representing a shortfall of $181 million per year.

National plans to fund an additional $724 million over four years to plug that hole, in addition to $280 million in ring-fenced funding for access to 13 new cancer treatments funded in Australia, but not in New Zealand.

Labour has already criticised National’s plan to fund 13 new cancer treatments — which will cost $280 million over four years, and will be funded by reinstating the $5 prescription fee, except for superannuitants and those on low-incomes.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said that removing the prescription fee helped 2 million people in July and August alone, while Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said by allocating funding for specific drugs, it’ll take away Pharmac’s ability to negotiate.

Hipkins said under the last National government, Pharmac funding increased by 25% from 2008 to 2017, including three years where funding was frozen.

Labour last week announced it would pledge over $1 billion of funding into Pharmac over the next four years, at $181 million per year from 2024/25, which Hipkins said will add up to a 62% increase in funding since Labour entered Government in 2017, now at $1.2 billion per year.