Kiwis with ITP will soon have New Treatment Option

New Zealand’s PHARMAC, the agency that decides which medicines are subsidized by the government for consumption in public hospitals and within the community, has agreed to fund a new drug to treat idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP).

People with ITP have low numbers of platelets in their blood which causes problems with clotting.

Eltrombopag, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (marketed in the US as Promacta and the European Union as Revolade) has been proven to increase platelet counts and reduce the risk of bleeding.

Funding will be made available to patients that have already tried other options, including splenectomy (spleen removal) and require further treatment.

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“The funding for eltrombopag will be for people with more severe cases of ITP,” says Sarah Fitt, PHARMAC’s director of operations said in a press release Monday morning.

“While other treatments are currently available, our clinical advisory committee considered there was a greater evidence of benefit through using eltrombopag. When we look at this clinical impact, the improvement to patients’ quality of life and long-term health outcomes, as well as a reduction in hospital admissions and its affordability, this makes a compelling case for funding eltrombopag.”

Eltrombopag will be added to the Pharmaceutical Schedule and funding will begin January 1, 2014.  PHARMAC estimates that about 40 patients nationwide will receive funded eltrombopag each year.

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