Pharmac indicates interest in funding cancer treatment bevacizumab

Pharmac—Te Pātaka Whaioranga is seeking commercial bids from suppliers for the supply of bevacizumab for a range of cancers.

“Today, we have issued a Future Procurement Opportunity (FPO) for the cancer treatment bevacizumab,” says Pharmac’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr David Hughes.

“This is a preliminary stage in government procurement that signals to the supplier market and New Zealanders that we are interested in considering funding bevacizumab for a range of indications.

“The reason we are following this competitive procurement process is because there are multiple potential suppliers of bevacizumab in New Zealand.”

Dr Hughes says Pharmac received clinical advice that access to bevacizumab would benefit people with a number of cancers, including liver, bowel, brain, ovarian, and cervical cancers.

“We know people want us to fund it, so it’s great that we’re now in a position to start our competitive procurement process, which will help us consider if we are able to fund it and for which indications.”

“There’s a lot of work to be done between an FPO going out and the development of a funding proposal later, but it’s important to give suppliers an early heads-up so that they’re well prepared.

We cannot be certain that bevacizumab will be funded for all the cancer types we’ve considered through this procurement process, as that will depend on the bids received and the amount of available funding.

As our procurement activity progresses, we will share more information with the community and the wider public.