4. Question No. 4—HealthARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 4—Health4. ARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa) to the Minister of Health: What reports has he seen on the consequences of increased funding provided to Pharmac and the review of Pharmac completed in February?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): I was pleased to read from Pharmac that this year Pharmac has been able to use additional funding in this year's Budget to fund three new treatments and increase access to an additional 14. It's also continuing to consider proposals for another eight medicines. Pharmac's decision to fund Spinraza for the rare disorder known as spinal muscular atrophy and adrenaline auto-injectors for those at risk of anaphylactic or life-threatening allergic reactions which was announced yesterday will make a substantial difference to the lives of those who need these treatments.Arena Williams: What is the significance of funding Spinraza?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Spinal muscular atrophy is a rare disorder affecting up to 75 people including 35 children in New Zealand. A Pharmac review earlier this year noted that there needed to be more attention to rare disorders and the decision to fund Spinraza reflects a constructive approach to rare disorders now being taken by Pharmac. New Zealand epidemiology data suggests that up to 50 people could be eligible for funded treatment with Spinraza under Pharmac's criteria. Another part of this approach is the development of a rare disorder strategy which Pharmac and the Ministry of Health are currently in the process of developing.Arena Williams: What additional funding has been provided to Pharmac?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: As promised in 2020 $200 million over four years was provided in Budget 2021 and in this year's Budget an additional $191 million over two years was provided—that's $71 million this year and $120 million next year. This means that over the last five years this Government has increased the Pharmac budget by $375 million or 43 percent.Arena Williams: What other consequences have there been for recent additional funding for Pharmac?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Since 2017 Pharmac's annual budget spend on chemotherapeutic agents to treat cancer has increased from $83.3 million to just over $149 million. As a consequence of the new funding in Budget 2022 Pharmac's considering proposals from pharmaceutical suppliers for new treatments for New Zealanders with cancer including lung cancer which affects a large number of New Zealanders and currently has one of the biggest equity gaps for our communities.Arena Williams: Why is additional funding for Pharmac important?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: New Zealanders generally understand that we cannot do everything in health that we would like to do but do expect our health system to keep up with orthodox treatments available in comparable countries. This Government has prioritised putting additional funding into health and into Pharmac to enable the best-possible medicines with the resources we have. We've been able to do this by ensuring a responsible tax regime something that would be highly unlikely if tax revenue was reduced. Cutting taxes as some people are proposing will put these health services and treatments at risk.