THE NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL JOURNAL

Aim To compare access to new prescription-only medicines in New Zealand (NZ) with that in Australia. Method The range of new prescription medicines and the timing of their regulatory approval and reimbursement in NZ and Australia in the period 2000 to 2009 were compared. Results 136 new prescription medicines were first listed in the Australian Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits in the study period and 59 (43%) of these were listed in the NZ Pharmaceutical Schedule. Listing of these 59 medicines for reimbursement occurred later in NZ (mean difference=32.7 months; 95 % CI 24.2 to 41.2 months; p<0.0001) due largely to a longer time from registration to listing (mean difference=23.7 months; 95 % CI 14.9 to 32.4 months; p<0.0001). The remaining 77 medicines that are reimbursed in Australia but not in NZ cover a wide range of therapeutic areas, including some diseases for which there are no reimbursed medicines in NZ. Four new medicines were listed in NZ but not Australia