Source: Pharmac, May 2025
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.