Standard Of Care Elsewhere, Unavailable Here: New Zealand Ranks Last For Modern Medicines Access
by Medicines New Zealand · SCOOPNew Zealand ranks last in public funding modern medicines compared with 16 comparable OECD countries.
A new report, Medicines Access Comparison – Standard of Care (MAC-SoC), commissioned by Medicines New Zealand and produced by IQVIA, shows the medicines gap isn't closing, it's entrenched.
Between 2020 and 2025, New Zealand funded only 21 modern medicines, including 18 considered to be standard of care internationally. This was well below the average of 113 modern medicines, including 88 standard of care medicines.
"These aren't experimental treatments or medical breakthroughs still being tested, they are medicines the rest of the world already treats as standard of care. New Zealand ranks last, and the gap isn't small. This is a longstanding access problem, not a temporary shortfall." said Dr Graeme Jarvis, CEO of Medicines New Zealand.
New Zealanders know that our access to modern cancer and rare disorders treatments is behind other countries such as Australia. However, it is not just those medicines that New Zealanders are missing out on. No modern cardiovascular disease medicines were funded in New Zealand between 2020 and 2025. Cardiovascular disease is New Zealand’s leading cause of death, responsible for almost 30% of deaths each year.
“It’s not just in cancer and rare disorders, cardiovascular disease is another clear example of the wider access gap,” Dr Jarvis said. “While other comparable OECD countries publicly fund modern medicines across a wide range of therapy areas, New Zealand patients and the health system are being left behind. It is reasonable to ask, why does New Zealand not think investing in standard of care medicines is worthwhile?”
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
The report also examined the impact of the Government's $604 million funding uplift for Pharmac, announced in June 2024. Of the 66 funding decisions made following that investment, only 12 related to medicines funded in New Zealand for the first time, the remaining 54 widened access to medicines already funded for other uses. Eleven of those 12 medicines had already been publicly funded in Australia, in some cases more than a decade earlier.
"The $604 million uplift was a significant and welcome step, and it has enabled more New Zealanders access to publicly funded medicines, but there is still work to be done.” said Dr Jarvis. “The report findings show why a long-term approach to medicines investment matters if New Zealand is going to close the medicines access gap with comparable countries.”
Based on the report’s analysis there is no clear relationship between a country's wealth and its level of medicines access. New Zealand's GDP per capita sits within US$10,000 of seven comparator countries, yet all of them fund substantially more standard of care medicines.
"This isn't about being richer or poorer than everyone else," said Dr Jarvis. "OECD countries with a GDP similar to ours are publicly funding far more of these medicines than we are. We’re not asking New Zealand to be the best in the world overnight, but that New Zealand should at least be trying to aim towards being average, rather than in last place."
The full report, Medicines Access Comparison – Standard of Care (MAC-SoC) 2020–2025, is available here - https://www.medicinesnz.co.nz/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/2026/IQVIA_Medicines_NZ_MAC-SoC_Report_2026_FINAL__V3_.pdf
Medicines New Zealand is the industry group representing biopharmaceutical companies operating in New Zealand. We advocate for the benefits of modern medicines and vaccines as part of a high-quality public health system.
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading