“Rua's compassionate access programme sees our medicine made available at no cost to a group of qualifying patients who reside in Te Tairāwhiti and are receiving a health service from a Te Tairāwhiti based provider,” Rua managing director Anna Stove said. “There are a number of other criteria which can be discussed with the prescriber, the most important of which is that the patient has a genuine clinical need that could be helped with the use of our medicine, as well as real barriers that limit their ability to pay for the medicine.
“The programme is managed by prescribers. As a producer of an unapproved medicine under Section 29 of the Medicines Act, Rua must not insert itself into that process, so we're extremely grateful to them for taking on the additional responsibility of assessing patient suitability for the programme.
“At present the programme is limited to 30 patients.
“That cap has been established to ensure the programme's sustainability by carefully considering the current use of medicinal cannabis in the region as well as ensuring those who enter the programme will continue to be funded for as long as the medicine is working for them.”
Without the subsidy, the prescription-only medicine costs about $165 a bottle (30ml) with up to 24 days of medicine, varying from patient to patient.
