Health committee  We think that transparency, or lack of transparency, is a significant issue. That happens at a number of different levels. The area that we are most concerned about is that in the best practices of a health technology assistance system, you wouldn't have your advisory committee a

Health committee  There are very few employers in New Zealand who provide medical coverage for their employees. If they do, it is much more likely to be in the surgical space than in the pharmaceutical space.

Health committee  That really is a philosophical question, I think. New Zealand has seemed relatively content on the whole with the $5 copayment. It did increase from $3 several years ago, and that has not altered the pickup rates at all. I think $5 per item is relative low. Sometimes it's not $5

Health committee  Your comment was quite right. A particular medicine, though approved, might not suit every patient. One of the difficulties we have in New Zealand is that because there is often a sole-supply issue—one medicine in a family of medicines is chosen for funding, and others aren't—c

Health committee  Yes, it is.

Health committee  All of our companies are multinational companies operating in New Zealand.

Health committee  Yes. I can't promise to give them all here off the top of my head—

Health committee  —but they are Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Sonovion, GSK—

Health committee  —Roche, Bristol-Myers, I think I said, and Biogen.

Health committee  Shall I continue?

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  I suspect it is. I can't say categorically it is. I would say that cost containment is only one part of an effective health system, though.

Health committee  There are a number of things, I think. You eventually need to ask Pharmac that question to get a comprehensive answer, but I think—and I referred to this in my introductory comments—they deal very aggressively with the companies. They negotiate hard, one company versus another. T

Health committee  You raised the point when you were talking to Matthew about the comparison, and you said that New Zealand is at the bottom of the OECD list, and that is absolutely correct. For a first world country, we believe this is unacceptable. We do take a very long time to get access to me

Health committee  Some people here would say it's a very low copayment in New Zealand. It's a maximum of $5, depending on what the cost of the medicine is, and no family is asked to pay for more than 20 prescriptions every year. It's not as huge a barrier as one might anticipate. Frequently, for f