Pharmac at HealthTech Week 2025  

Pharmac will have a strong presence at HealthTech week 2025, with a range of staff and representatives travelling to Auckland to attend this year’s MTANZ conference.

“We’re really excited to have such a strong presence at this important conference. We have been attending this event for over a decade, and it’s an important chance for us to build connections with the suppliers we work with,” Pharmac’s Director Medical Devices Catherine Epps says.
 
Attendees will have several opportunities throughout the day to hear about Pharmac and its Medical Devices work.

Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Health Minister Hon David Seymour will open the conference on Monday at 9am, followed by an address by Pharmac’s Board Chair Paula Bennett, who will speak about her role as the Chair of Pharmac’s board, and provide an update on Pharmac’s Governance.
 
Then later in the morning you’ll hear a more detailed update on Pharmac’s medical devices work from Catherine Epps, Director Medical Devices.
 
Epps says while she’s looking forward to people hearing more about Pharmac’s work over the last year, the key focus for Pharmac at this year’s conference is to hear the different perspectives that conference delegates bring.
 
“We are really looking forward to connecting with conference delegates. HealthTech week provides a great opportunity for Pharmac to hear from the people involved in our work face to face, to listen, learn, and build a shared understanding of medical devices in New Zealand,” Epps says.

Comprehensive list consultation update 

During February and March 2025, Pharmac consulted on a comprehensive list of hospital medical devices.

“The aim of this consultation was to help confirm a national list of medical devices currently used by Health New Zealand hospitals,” says Pharmac’s Manager Medical Devices, Andrew Davies. 

“We focused this consultation on people who use, buy, sell, or manage hospital medical devices. This included hospital staff, suppliers, and individuals who may use medical devices in their homes,” Davies says.

During the seven-week consultation period Pharmac received hundreds of queries and over 150 responses from a wide range of perspectives. 

“While most of the responses came from suppliers, distributions, and manufactures of medical devices, we also gained valuable insights from Health New Zealand, professional healthcare organisations, and consumer advocacy groups,” Davies says. 

Pharmac staff carefully reviewed all feedback received, and contacted many suppliers to check data, confirm which medical devices have been added to the list, and explain why others have not.

The new comprehensive list provides a clear picture of the medical devices currently funded and used by all public hospitals. A few gaps remain, and Pharmac will be engaging with stakeholders over the next few months to work through these issues. 

Supply Issues 

Impact of tariffs on medical devices 

Pharmac is monitoring potential impacts of recently announced US tariffs (and related tariffs in other countries) on the availability and affordability of Medical Devices in New Zealand.

Pharmac is proactively monitoring the situation and engaging with stakeholders to ensure continued access to essential medicines and medical devices. We are working closely with our colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

New Zealand based suppliers have told us that materials imported into the United States for manufacture into medical devices may increase in price, and that this will have a flow on effect on manufacturer prices.

One of the reactions to tariffs is a possible delay in transporting materials into the United States which may affect supply of medical devices into NZ.

Tariffs might result in delays or disruptions in the supply chain, for example, delays in transporting materials into the United States which may affect supply of medical devices into New Zealand.

Manufacturers relocating their facilities into the United States may also have an effect on supply in the short term.
We will continue to work with relevant agencies like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, along with suppliers, as the impacts of US tariffs become clearer.

We’re keen to ensure we can consider your perspective. If you would like to share your insight with us, send an email to contractmanagement-devices@pharmac.govt.nz 

Health System Catalogue

The Health System Catalogue (HSC) is an important source of product data, and suppliers will have noticed Pharmac used it to support its comprehensive list consultation in February to identify products in use for addition to the Pharmaceutical Schedule.

We required less information from suppliers that had to up to date products catalogues on the HSC during this consultation.
 
We continue to encourage suppliers to maintain their information in the HSC as we will continue to use this as an important reference set for product information, simplifying information exchange between suppliers, HNZ and Pharmac.

For more information, contact Ian.Malone@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz

ROI + RFP’s

Pharmac released advance notice to the market of our intent to run a market share process for permanent coronary drug-eluting stents.

Pharmac currently has a market share arrangement with a single supplier for permanent coronary drug-eluting stents, with a minimum market share of 65% guaranteed under its agreement.

Further information is set out in the Future Procurement Opportunity.

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