Pharmac extends access to anti-rejection drug

Heart and kidney transplant patients will be able to have continuing access to the anti-rejection drug mycophenolate from next week, Pharmac announced yesterday.

The Government drug-finding agency said after reviewing access to transplant immunosuppressants and talks with Roche, the drug's supplier, that it was was now able to provide access for all patients to the medicine indefinitely beyond the present one-year limit.

The agreement also gives previous users the ability to switch back to mycophenolate from their current immunosuppressant.

Mycophenolate belongs to a group of medicines called immunosuppressants. They are used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs, and work by stopping the immune system from reacting to the transplanted organ.

Before the new funding agreement most patients had switched to a different treatment one year after the initial transplant.

Under the agreement with Roche, the oral liquid form of mycophenolate, mainly used to treat children, will also be listed in the pharmaceutical schedule.

Up to 120 kidney transplants and 10 to 20 heart transplants are done yearly in New Zealand.

"All these patients will be treated with mycophenolate at a cost of about $8 million a year," Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said.

New Zealand Kidney Foundation education manager Carmel Gregan-Ford said the change was a welcome relief.

"This change will potentially affect hundreds of New Zealanders with transplanted organs and hopefully reduce long-term rejection rates, which is fantastic news."

- NZPA