Pharmac Notification
- 11 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Pharmac has decided to widen access to four funded medicines for people with type 2 diabetes: empagliflozin, empagliflozin with metformin, liraglutide and dulaglutide, from 1 September 2026.
The medicines are already funded. The new eligibility criteria will allow people with type 2 diabetes, whose blood sugar levels remain high despite treatment with other funded diabetes medicines, to access these treatments. This change applies to empagliflozin, empagliflozin with metformin, liraglutide and dulaglutide. Patients would still need to start treatment on empagliflozin or empagliflozin with metformin before accessing funded liraglutide or dulaglutide (where clinically appropriate).
The decision removes the existing ethnicity criteria and cardiovascular risk threshold and instead uses broader funding criteria. People who are already receiving these medicines will continue to have access and will not be affected by the change.
The decision follows consultation with people living with type 2 diabetes, their families and whānau, health professionals, community organisations and advocacy groups. Pharmac received nearly 1,900 submissions.
While people supported widening access to these medicines, many were concerned that removing the ethnicity criteria, along with the proposed cardiovascular risk threshold would mean Māori and Pacific peoples, who are eligible for these medicines under the current criteria but not currently accessing treatment, would miss out.
People also told us that our proposal would create unintended barriers for Māori and Pacific peoples to access this medicine, as it would require patients to undergo additional assessments to establish if they are eligible for funded treatment.
We listened carefully to that feedback when making our decision.
Rather than introducing a lowered cardiovascular risk threshold to replace the ethnicity criteria, we decided to widen access further by removing the existing 5-year cardiovascular risk threshold, so more people with type 2 diabetes can benefit from these medicines.
Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences, views and suggestions. We carefully considered that feedback when making our decision.
The decision will be published on Pharmac’s website at 11am, Wednesday 5 August, at the following link:
Please feel free to share this information with others who may be interested.
Ngā mihi nui,
Pharmac | Te Pātaka Whaioranga | P: +0800 660 050 | www.pharmac.govt.nz
