News

New medicine supply notices Chloramphenicol (Devatis) Eye ointment 1% (Pharmacode: 2576902) Supplies of this product are low due to a shortage of the active ingredient. The eye drops are available as an alternative.  Dexamethasone phosphate (Medsurge) Inj 4 mg per ml, 2 ml ampoule  (Pharmacode: 2690535) The supplier has limited stock of the 2 ml ampoule. There is stock of the 1 ml ampoule. Olanzapine (Zypine ODT) 10 mg orodispersible tablets (Pharmacode: 2439840) Due to manufacturing and...

Breakfast with a show! On both days of the Symposium, we'll serve breakfast alongside great talks. Your only challenge will be deciding which to go to.On Saturday morning you have a choice of: Winter readiness: Respiratory management essentials, with James Wethasinghe Moving our A into G for CKM health, with Walaa Saweirs Sunday's offering: Cardiovascular risk after COPD exacerbations in NZ and the role of triple therapy, with Jeff Harrison and William Good The 6th Anniversary: Covid, you've...

Supply Issue:   We are writing to inform you that the supplier Teva has advised Pharmac that it is unable to provide teriparatide injection. Pharmac are listing an alternate product.   Key Dates: The Teva brand will be unavailable from the end of February 2026. The resupply date is not yet confirmed. An alternative - Forteo brand will be listed (funded) on the Pharmaceutical Schedule from 1 March 2026   Key messages: The Forteo brand was previously supplied to the New Zealand market from 2011...

Welcome to the fortnightly Health Improvement and Innovation Digest. The Digest has links to key evidence of interest, with access to new content arranged by topic. You can forward this newsletter to others who may be interested in receiving it. They can register and subscribe here . You can also access other recent issues of the digest here. If you have any queries, please email us at  library@health.govt.nz Article Access For articles that aren't open access, contact your Health NZ district...

This meta-analysis included pooled data from 51 trials involving 358,325 participants, of whom 4.4% had isolated diastolic hypertension (IDH) 1 .  Over 4.2 years, reducing systolic pressure by 5 mmHg lowered major cardiovascular events to a similar degree in people with and without IDH. Treatment effects did not vary by baseline diastolic pressure, cardiovascular history, age, prior medication, or measurement method.  The study found no evidence that BP-lowering therapy is more, or less...

From 1 March 2026 Pharmac is funding ferric derisomaltose (Monofer) in hospitals for people who have experienced serious reactions after other iron infusions. In January, we consulted on a proposal to fund ferric derisomaltose (Monofer) in hospitals for people who have developed hypophosphataemia after an iron infusion. The feedback we have received was supportive. However, clinicians told us a small number of patients who experience serious reactions to other funded iron transfusions would...