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Kia ora koutou As Acting Director-General of Health while Audrey Sonerson is away, I want to take this opportunity to update you on a number of areas of focus for the Ministry. At the heart of this work is a shared goal - supporting New Zealanders to live longer, healthier lives. Ruth IssacActing Director-General of Health Budget 2026 The Vote Health package announced in Budget 2026 last week provides more than: $5.8 billion in new operating funding across the forecast period, including a...

The Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Regulations 2019 (the Regulations) set the minimum quality standard that medicinal cannabis products and ingredients must meet before they can be supplied in New Zealand. Importers, manufacturers, and suppliers must apply for assessment and provide evidence to the Medicinal Cannabis Agency to verify that their products meet the minimum quality standard. KIKUYA Spring THC20 CBD≤1% has been verified as meeting the minimum quality standard. FLOWERMAN Pine...

Kia ora The June 2026 edition of Prescriber Update is now available on the Medsafe website. Please can you share it with your networks. Kind regards Medsafe Pharmacovigilance Team

Our latest CPD options for you: Chronic kidney disease, hyperuricaemia and gout - when to treat? WEBINAR 9 June: Rob Walker and Hannah Giles on how to manage patients when chronic kidney disease, hyperuricaemia, and gout coexist. Register here Metabolic Soup WEBINAR 16 June: Ryan Paul gives practical, evidence-based strategies for managing diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, gout, and kidney disease, with an emphasis on simplifying and integrating care across these interconnected...

From 1 July 2026, Pharmac will take over responsibility for funding medicines used in ambulances. This decision outlines changes to the Pharmaceutical Schedule to support this change in responsibility. Under this decision, we will also fund tenecteplase for use within emergency ambulance services and Primary Responses in Medical Emergencies (PRIME) services. We want to make sure that everyone who needs to know about this decision is aware of it. Please share this information with people you...

Pharmac is seeking feedback on a proposal to change the funded brand of dapsone tablets, which are currently supplied by Link Pharmaceuticals (Dapsone). We are also seeking feedback on a related change to remove the 25 mg tablet from the Pharmaceutical Schedule due to its discontinuation and replace it with a 50 mg (scored / halveable) tablet. A 100 mg tablet will remain available, but its brand would change. Proposal for the supply of dapsone tablets No changes are proposed to the current...