Health committee  Roche.

Health committee  It comes down to transparency, because while their PTAC had the priorities—high, medium, low, or funded but cost-neutral—we're not sure of the criteria that they've come up with for this. We assume it's what they refer to as the factors for consideration, but it's a question that remains unanswered.

Health committee  Yes. The opposite was actually used as the reason for doing clinical trials. The idea was that because you don't get access to the innovative medicines, you should be doing clinical trials in New Zealand, because then patients could actually.... The Health Select Committee investigated this.

Health committee  Although I'm quite happy to send the committee the papers, if they so I wish, there have been studies that actually quantitfy this, and these are those real-world studies that I was referring to. The Australian study I referred to talked about a range of chronic and acute conditions—cancers, diabetes, arthritis—and actually showed that you are saving money, so there's a return on investment for the health care system.

Health committee  Yes. We've seen, I think, over the past five years quite a bit more awareness in the public and health care professionals and in general media debates over a lack of access to medicines in New Zealand. Out of interest, an online survey completed last year showed that of the over 1,000 people who responded, 89% thought the New Zealand government should invest more in new medicines.

Health committee  I think it's a matter of hitting the right level of funding. As we've stated, Pharmac has done a good job with what the agreement is, but it's a matter of funding it at the right level. I'm not sure whether Matthew touched on this, but Pharmac received a very large increase in funding last year, a record new investment in funding.

Health committee  Thank you very much. I'll limit my discussion points to innovative or patented medicines. Obviously, as the industry association for patented medicines, we don't represent generics and over-the-counter products, so bear that in mind. For anyone, the biggest strength—and I'm sure Matthew spoke at length about it—is the cost containment or the kept budget that Pharmac has.

Health committee  Good morning. It is quite early morning for us, and almost lunchtime for you, I guess. I've been the general manager here at Medicines New Zealand for a little over two years. Before that I worked in a variety of industries, where I was mainly involved with innovation, export development, and product development.