Cost of heart drugs to rise

About 200,000 New Zealanders taking heart medication will have to change drugs or cough up more money for their prescriptions from July.

Government drug buyer Pharmac today confirmed the cost of three-month prescriptions for Betaloc and Plendil, taken for high blood pressure and heart failure, would attract a surcharge of between $2 and $10 from July.

Pharmac medical director Peter Moodie said that was because the drug manufacturer Astrazeneca had increased the price of the drugs and Pharmac could not justify an extra $4 million a year on top of its existing subsidy.

- NZPA