Proposal to widen access to bortezomib for Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia

We want your feedback on a proposal to widen access to bortezomib for people with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM), a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Pharmac included bortezomib in the 2024/25 invitation to tender, and as a result of a price reduction, Pharmac is now proposing to widen access to bortezomib from 1 February 2026.

If approved, this would allow people with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia to receive bortezomib as an initial treatment or following treatment with other funded medicines such as bendamustine with rituximab.

• More information about the proposal is available here

  
  

We understand that there remains a significant unmet health need for people with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia and its subtype Bing-Neel syndrome.

Patient advocates and clinicians have advised us that there are other, more effective, treatments that they would like funded. We are reviewing the status of these applications.

The consultation webpage includes an online form for you to provide feedback. Consultation closes 5pm, Tuesday 16 December 2025.

If the proposal is approved, the funding change would start from 1 February 2026.

Ngā mihi,

Matthew McKenzie | Senior Therapeutic Group Manager 

Pharmac | Te Pātaka Whaioranga | PO Box 10 254 | Level 9, 40 Mercer Street, Wellington

P: 0800 660 050 | www.pharmac.govt.nz