Diabetic pleads for help as drug price soars

ALEX HICKEY
Faith Wylie used to pay $3 for a vial of insulin but now she has to fork out nearly 50 times that amount for the same dose. The Napier invalid beneficiary has type 2 (adult onset) diabetes and needs insulin to regulate her blood-sugar levels.
Until last week she had been using a brand of the drug, Protophane, which is subsidised by the Government's drug purchasing agency Pharmac.
But it was no longer effective at controlling her condition so she had to switch, on doctor's orders, to another type, Lantus, which costs more than $125 a vial, about $10 a day. She said she had been "gobsmacked" by the new medication's cost.
Ms Wylie said she had no choice but to take the drug, even though she could not afford it.
"I have to have it - without it I'm dead," she said.
The 50-year-old had lived with the condition for more than 20 years and knew she had reached "the end of the line" in her treatment options.
"If this doesn't work then it will be a shovel and a box."
Pharmac chief Wayne McNee said two types of long-acting insulin, including Lantus, were being assessed by the agency.
Both these treatments had been considered by the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC), the first step in the assessment process.
The next step would be to reach an agreement with the suppliers and Pharmac would be working towards that end, Mr Mcnee said.
However Ms Wylie was currently facing a monthly drug bill of about $300 because of the price of her insulin.
She had no idea how she was going to afford it on an income of less than $750 per month, $400 of which goes to rent.
"Winz gives me what it can, but there are limits."
The stress of worrying about how she was going to afford the insulin would make her condition even worse.
It was playing havoc with her health, causing her to be hospitalised as recently as last week, which would have cost the taxpayer even more money, she said.
"I feel like a blight on the taxpayer."
Ms Wylie begged Pharmac to subsidise her brand of insulin. "It's election year and the government has to look at widening the range of drugs that Pharmac fund, not just for diabetics but for all sick people."
It was ridiculous that only some brands of insulin were subsidised, she said. However Mr McNee said the budget for pharmaceuticals was already set at $582 million for 2005-6. Last year it funded pioglitazone, an oral treatment for diabetes which was expected to cost an additional $4 million a year.
The government wanted to get the best health outcomes from the funding available. "While we would love to fund everything, the reality is that we have to make decisions that make the best use of the budget," he said.