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<\/strong><\/p>\nOur Thoughts at Matariki<\/strong><\/p>\n M\u0101nawatia a Matariki<\/p>\n We feel it\u2019s appropriate on this special day to remember and celebrate the life of the founder of CLLANZ, Dr Neil Graham. Neil was a very generous, energetic, and compassionate human being who gave his time freely to help improve the lives of New Zealanders living with CLL. His work helped create a \u2018community\u2019 of CLL patients, through his personal engagement with patients, creation of the ongoing private CLL Advocates Facebook Group<\/a>, and production of the first dedicated CLL Patient Booklet<\/a> for New Zealanders. \u00a0With a relentless focus on advocating for access to CLL treatments, Neil also raised the profile and understanding of CLL among politicians, Pharmac officials and other policy decision makers. He played a vital role in gaining funding for venetoclax.<\/p>\n Looking to the future, as is also appropriate on this day, the fight for better treatments goes on. In particular, after all these years of waiting, we\u2019d like to see funding for ibrutinib for patients in need of it. But at this stage there\u2019s no sign of any progress on that.\u00a0 While we welcome the release (finally!) of the Pharmac Review Panel report, we\u2019re not greatly confident that it will lead to real change in the nature, speed, and transparency of Pharmac\u2019s decision-making processes.\u00a0 After a three-month delay, releasing the report on the day Prime Minister Ardern met President Joe Biden suggests the Government may not have wanted it to get much attention! We have noted a change in Pharmac\u2019s language but are keen to see some meaningful change in their processes.<\/p>\n We\u2019re very pleased to say that CLLANZ Trustee Dr Gillian Corbett (see her bio Dr Gillian Corbett<\/a>) has agreed to take on the role of Medical Director of CLLANZ.<\/p>\n