Cancer drug Glivec finally gets Pharmac approval

4.15pm By PAULA OLIVER

Sufferers of a rare disease are this afternoon celebrating a Pharmac deal to fund breakthrough cancer drug Glivec.

The deal, announced today in Wellington, will see many sufferers of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) able to access Glivec for free from December 1.

Previously the drug had carried costs of about $6000 a month for patients.

Hailed as a breakthrough drug, Glivec works by targeting cancer cells while leaving normal ones alone.

Clinical trials have shown it to be three times more effective than the standard treatment of Interferon and chemotherapy.

Pharmac funding of Glivec capsules was the focus of a high profile 'Save the 90' campaign earlier this year after the Government's drug funding agency said the drug, which costs up to $100,000 per patient each year, was too expensive for its budget.

Sufferers of CML appeared in newspaper advertisements and on billboards at election time urging people to vote for their lives.

Today they were expressing relief that Pharmac had finally struck a deal with drug company Novartis.

"This is great news. The drug has given me complete normality in life, with no side effects. I've got more energy, and I feel normal. This is great news for all sufferers of CML," said Dorothy Facoory of St Johns in Auckland.

The deal will see Glivec funded for people in most stages of CML, and to some with a particular cancer of the stomach and intestines if it is inoperable and spreading.

If the Ministry of Health's drug asessment agency Medsafe gives the go ahead the drug will also be used as a first line therapy - making New Zealand one of the first countries in the world to adopt it in this way.

It is estimated that 120 people will immediately qualify for fully subsidised Glivec from December 1.

If the first line treatment is approved, a further 90 could then also receive it fully subsidised.

Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said negotiations with Novartis had provided a number of challenges, but the deal had been worth the wait.

Leukaemia and Blood Foundation spokesman Jim Hamilton said the right decision had finally been made.

"It is a sensible decision for Pharmac to fund Glivec. It will save lives and save taxpayers' money."

Pharmac has agreed to list Glivec on the pharmaceutical schedule at a price of $4800 a pack, which is a month's supply.

The price negotiated for the drug is technically $58,000 to $88,000 a year per patient, but Novartis has agreed to a confidential "risk-sharing" arrangement with Pharmac, and to price cuts of up to 60 per cent on other drugs.