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Cancer sufferers cynical about more bad news

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Sat, 3 Aug 2019, 9:57AM
Breast cancer patient Wiki Mulholland spoke to Parliament's health select committee in a bid to improve access to life-prolonging drugs. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Cancer sufferers cynical about more bad news

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Sat, 3 Aug 2019, 9:57AM

The Health Select Committee has announced it won't recommend an inquiry into Pharmac.

People have been citing a lack of transparency in the drug buying agency's decisions and its refusal to fund two successful breast cancer drugs.

Malcolm Mulholland's wife, Wiki, has stage-four breast cancer and can't access a drug that could prolog her life by years through drug-buying agency Pharmac.

He's the chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa, a group that's since last year been campaigning for a review of the way the system funds medication for cancers and rare conditions, and increasing its funding.

Mulholland wanted an investigation and told Heather du Plessis-Allan it's hard not to question the timing.

He says the Government is also making a cancer announcement on Sunday, which could be another attempt to bury more bad news.

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