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Election 2011 - Party Policies - Health - PHARMAC

Election 2011 - Party Policies - Health - PHARMAC

PHARMAC

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  • Create competitive market. (more here)

  • Support the independence of Pharmac.
  • Ensure cost/benefit analyses take into account the full economic cost of ill health, such as unemployment and inability to do unpaid work, when assessing the costs and benefits of a drug.
  • Investigate issues around the patenting of medications including the length of patents and the effect this has on the availability of these medicines to New Zealanders.
  • Ban the 'direct to consumer' advertising of pharmaceuticals, because this practice drives up the demand for pharmaceuticals and plays down adverse reactions to drugs.
  • Set up a register of interests in which pharmaceutical companies are required to disclose annually any gifts/promotions to health professionals, or the health sector.
  • Require health sector organisations and individuals to disclose gifts and funding from pharmaceutical companies.
  • Require the provision of independent health and pharmaceutical information for consumers and clinicians.
  • Monitor and make transparent the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies to clinicians and health professionals.
  • Ensure members of Pharmac declare any ties to industry or potential conflicts of interests. (more here)

  • Labour will protect and enhance PHARMAC‟s role, including through making protection of PHARMAC a bottom line that will not be traded away in trade negotiations.
  • Labour will not intervene in PHARMAC‟s decisions but will review the criteria for funding highly specialised medicines to ensure that those with rare diseases are treaty equitably and fairly in decisions about the availability of drugs.
  • Labour will continue to ensure that access to HIV retroviral drugs keeps pace with international
    developments. (more here)

  • Support the Pharmac model of affordable medicines and protect it from drug company cartels through unfair trade agreements. (more here)

Not set out on their website.

Not set out on their website.

Not set out on their website.

 

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