Pharmac funds and widens access to melanoma medicines

Pharmac is funding more medicines for people with skin cancer (melanoma), from 1 June 2025.

The decision includes widening access to pembrolizumab (branded as Keytruda) and funding dabrafenib (branded as Tafinlar) and trametinib (branded as Mekinist) for the first time. They will be funded for people with stage 3B to stage 4 melanoma.

“These medicines will help about 285 New Zealanders by preventing people’s cancer from spreading or coming back” says Geraldine MacGibbon, Pharmac’s Director Pharmaceuticals.

Pembrolizumab is already funded for people with melanoma who can’t have surgery to remove their cancer. Now it will be funded for people around the time of surgery too.

Dabrafenib with trametinib will be funded for people with melanoma, who have a BRAF gene mutation. It will provide a treatment option after surgery or if they cannot have surgery.

MacGibbon thanked everyone who provided feedback during Pharmac’s public consultation.

“We heard through the consultation the benefit of having more treatments funded – clinicians and their patients will now have more options to help them live longer.”

Feedback to the consultation also highlighted the need for medicines that would reduce the side effects from treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. So, as part of this decision Pharmac is widening access to infliximab (branded as Remicade) and tocilizumab (branded as Actemra).

“We expect about 65 people with different types of cancer to benefit from wider access to infliximab and tocilizumab in the first year of funding. Having these medicines available will help manage some side effects from cancer treatment.”

The Government provided additional funding to Pharmac in June 2024 to fund new medicines and to widen access to medicines that are already funded. The funding boost covers medicines for both cancer and non-cancer health conditions.