Pharmac's being praised for agreeing to fund a less invasive drug for prostate cancer sufferers.

Zytiga will be funded from next month, and Pharmac estimates it will benefit around a thousand people.

Prostate Cancer Foundation chief executive, Graeme Woodside says it's a much more convenient treatment for men with advanced prostate cancer.

"That saves them a lot of inconvenience of having to travel to treatment centres or anything like that for treatment, they can just take their pills at home."

Graeme Woodside says Zytiga is the first of a series of new drugs coming on to the market for men with late stage prostate cancer.

Graeme Woodside says some had chosen to fund the treatment themselves.

"Men have been paying up to $5000 for this treatment, and some of them have been on it for up to 12 months."