Pharmac Review Panel Interim Report
Decision on access criteria for oral COVID-19 treatments:
The Access Criteria for the oral antiviral COVID-19 treatments, nirmatrelvir with ritonavir (Paxlovid) and molnupiravir (Lagevrio) has been announced.
These Access Criteria have been developed with the advice of our clinical expert advisors. Supply of the oral treatments will be arriving throughout 2022 and the criteria have been designed to help support prescribers to target available supply to those most in need and most likely to benefit. The evidence continues to change quickly in the COVID-19 treatment space and we will continue to review the criteria and consider any changes as required.
Approvals are valid for patients where the prescribing clinician confirms the patient meets the following criteria and has endorsed the prescription accordingly.
For more information please click on this link: https://pharmac.govt.nz/news-and-resources/consultations-and-decisions/2022-03-31-decision-on-access-criteria-for-two-oral-covid-19-treatments
Added support for use of Brukinsa in relapsed or refractory CLL/SLL
An interesting study on a drug, Brukinsa that is not yet in New Zealand, although we and Australia had 9% of patients enrolled in the trial. Hopefully the drug will make it to New Zealand at some stage in the future.
"China-based biotech BeiGene (HKEX: 06160) has announced results from the Phase III ALPINE trial showing BTK inhibitor Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) demonstrated superiority versus ibrutinib in overall response rate (ORR) as assessed by an Independent Review Committee (IRC) in adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).
A total of 652 patients were enrolled in the ALPINE trial across:
Europe (60%) ; USA (17%) ; China (14%) ; New Zealand and Australia (9%) and were followed for a median of 24.2 months. The next planned analysis of ALPINE data will be the PFS final analysis.
Brukinsa, which is cleared in markets such as the European Union, USA, China, Brazil and Canada for the treatment of marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) in some markets.
BeiGene has submitted results from the ALPINE trial in support of marketing authorization applications for Brukinsa in CLL in the USA, EU and other markets around the world. In February 2022, BeiGene announced that the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency have accepted supplemental new drug applications for Brukinsa in CLL".
For more information on the trial, please click on this link: Added support for use of Brukinsa in relapsed or refractory CLL/SLL (thepharmaletter.com)
Blood type may predict which cancer patients are prone to clots
Cancer and its treatments increase the risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). That includes deep-vein thrombosis (DVT, a blood clot that typically forms in the deep veins of the leg) and pulmonary embolism (PE, a life-threatening condition that occurs when a blood clot breaks free and travels to the lungs' arteries).
Factors such as tumours or cancer types are now used to identify cancer patients at high risk of VTE, but many go unidentified. This study concluded that cancer patients with non-O blood types, such as types A, B and AB, are at increased risk for VTE.
For more information please click on the link: Blood Type May Predict Which Cancer Patients Are Prone to Clots - Consumer Health News | HealthDay
COVID-19 information for patients and whānau with cancer.
This link here: Te Aho o Te Kahu – Cancer during COVID-19 contains information for patients and whānau with cancer. Cancer treatment continues at all phases of the Ministry of Health’s Omicron Response Plan.
Pharmac Review Final Report – Update
In a radio interview today, Health Minister Andrew Little said the final Pharmac Review report will be publicised “in a matter of a few weeks.”
The Pharmac Review panel was expected to hand over the final report to Minister Little by 28 February 2022 – he received it last week.
Click below to listen to the interview on 95bFM The Wire. Fast forward the audio recording at the bottom of the page to approximately 10 minutes to hear Andrew Little speak about the report.
The Wire with Joe and Emilia: March 10, 2022 | 95bFM
CLL Advocates Network´s March Newsletter
The CLL Advocates Network´s latest newsletter (March edition) where the first article is on the “International COVID-19 Blood Cancer Coalition" (ICBCC).
You can access the newsletter HERE.
There is also a page with ICBCC Success Stories and Access News.
In this section you will find a list of success stories that have been reported to the ICBCC following the launch of the International COVID-19 Blood Cancer Coalition´s (ICBCC) Joint Patient Impact Statement on 21 February 2022.
Let me take the opportunity to remind you of our next Coalition Update Meeting which is taking place this Thursday 10 March from 18:00-19:30 CET / 5:00-6:30 GMT.
Here is the Zoom link for those who wish to join:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88436813708?pwd=QThBcjdYVWs4VnBPYnhxclNxZlZBUT09
Meeting ID: 884 3681 3708
Passcode: 669124
On behalf of: Nicole Schroeter
International COVID-19 Blood Cancer Coalition (ICBCC) Secretariat
Endorsers of the ICBCC Patient Impact Statement
Last Thursday 24 February the ICBCC Policy Strategy Working Group met to discuss on the Policy Strategy to address the specific impact of the pandemic on immunocompromised blood cancer patients (both acute and chronic) in a workshop-style setting. The meeting was facilitated by our partner Patvocates.
During the 2 hour workshop the group managed to define the actionable objectives from the impact statement and define the primary stakeholders and the level of lobbying needed (international/country level) for each of the objectives. In order to finalise the policy strategy and prioritise the creation of the tools and with the aim of eliciting a broad representative sample, we want to ask all statement endorsers to please vote their top 5 priorities when it comes to objectives. You can do this by adding votes in the Online Tool Groupmap which you can access via the following link: https://join.groupmap.com/413-EC5-D36. Please submit your votes by end of business Thursday 3rd of March.
As final step, we ask you as well to add suggestions on which tools you would consider most useful for you for each of the actions (template letters, social media images, flyers, etc.). To do so, you can add comments in each of the boxes.
Your input will help us provide tools that really suit your needs.
We thank you in advance for your speedy response to the above request!
On behalf of the CLLAN Steering Committee and the International COVID-19 Blood Cancer Coalition" (ICBCC)
CLLANZ trustees present to Pae Ora Committee
On 8 February CLL Advocates trustees appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee that is considering the draft Pae Ora legislation that will establish the new health system. Watch it here and see our full submission here
Which haematology patients are at higher risk of COVID-19?’
Watch this excellent presentation by Dr Rob Weinkove of the Malaghan Institute, courtesy of Leukaemia & Blood Cancer NZ, on ‘COVID-19 and haematology patients - protecting yourself in 2022’
https://youtu.be/wSet-9sB-VM
Launch of the Patient Impact Statement of the International COVID-19 Blood Cancer Coalition (ICBCC)
The coalition has prepared the Statement for use in different countries to aid when advocating for the provision of anti-COVID-19 treatment and care for immunocompromised or immunosuppressed (IC/IS) blood cancer patients. The Statement has been endorsed by multiple networks and national organisations of the global patient advocacy community as well as renowned medical societies and representatives from the global clinical community.