4733 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health

4733 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Associate Minister of Health: What progress, if any, has been made in the last quarter (September to December 2023), toward implementing the recommendation to ‘support the chair of the rare disorders advisory committee to ensure the right expertise is invited to provide advice on applications where there is currently no member of the committee covering that specialism. This may mean involving experts from other countries’ from the Pharmac Review final report?

Hon David Seymour: I am advised that expert advice is routinely sought outside committee meetings where the sitting members of the committee may not have the specialist knowledge required. For example, at the last Rare Disorders Specialist Advisory Committee meeting, experts from two other specialist advisory committees attended the meeting during relevant discussions. Although these members were based in New Zealand, Pharmac have had committee members based in other countries.