This is the text extract for October 2009 Consumer Advisory Committee minutes, browse documents here.

PHARMAC has withheld some material from these Minutes in accordance with section 6a of the Official Information Act 1982 Minutes of the PHARMAC Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting Thursday 8 October 2009 The meeting was held at PHARMAC, 9th floor, Cigna House, 40 Mercer St, Wellington from 9.00am. Present: Sandra Coney Heather Thomson Te Aniwa Tutara Anne Fitisemanu Matiu Dickson Vicki Burnett Maurice Gianotti Jennie Michel Kate Russell Apologies Dennis Paget In attendance: Fiona Rutherford & Cherie Jacobson PHARMAC (CAC Secretariat) CAC member Chair CAC member CAC member CAC member CAC member CAC member CAC member CAC member CAC member

Marama Parore, Janet Mackay, Simon England, Matthew Poynton, Rico Schoeler, Kate Adams, Geraldine MacGibbon (PHARMAC Staff) attended for relevant items. _________________________________________________________________________

1. Welcome to new members The Chair welcomed the three new CAC members – Maurice Gianotti, Jennie Michel and Kate Russell to the Committee.

2. Minutes of July 2009 meeting

The minutes of the July 2009 meeting were accepted as a true and accurate record with changes. Coney/Dickson (carried) 3. Chair’s Report The Chair: · Reported that the Chair and Deputy-Chair had attended the last three Board meetings and items of interest arising from these are on the current meeting agenda.

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PHARMAC has withheld some material from these Minutes in accordance with section 6a of the Official Information Act 1982 · · The Committee provided comments since the last meeting on PHARMAC’s draft consumer participation discussion document and the cost-effectiveness guide. Reported on the appointment process leading to the appointment of the three new members attending their first meeting. Thomson/Cole (carried) 4. Conflicts of Interest The Committee reviewed and updated the Conflicts of Interest register. No interests relating specifically to items on the October meeting agenda were declared. 5. Action points The Committee agreed upon the action points. Dickson/Burnett (carried) 6. Correspondence The Committee requested it receive information in the Correspondence Report about the topics of enquiries made by consumers. The Committee also asked if it could receive, every meeting, a sample of three pieces of correspondence from consumers, and PHARMAC’s responses to these. 7. Matters arising The Committee requested an update on progress with the development of the Pacific Strategy at the next Committee meeting. 8. Generic medicines and consumers The Committee noted PHARMAC staff’s description of work undertaken to identify consumer concerns about generic medicines, including the findings of the consumer survey and focus groups. The Committee commented on the development of the generics campaign. Key points included: · · · the need for improvement in the quality of patient information in general the importance of the information health professionals provide to consumers the potential role for health advocates to assist people to better understand their medicines and how they should take them

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PHARMAC has withheld some material from these Minutes in accordance with section 6a of the Official Information Act 1982 · usefulness of distributing information about generics through health specific and broader interest consumer organisation newsletters and offices.

The Committee agreed to provide its views on the generics work in written form. Coney/ Thomson (Carried) 9. Pre-Forum briefing The Committee discussed the PHARMAC Forum agenda and the role of Committee members at the Forum. 10. Access and Optimal Use Update The Committee noted the update on progress with Access and Optimal Use campaigns. Specifically, the Committee was advised that an interim evaluation of PHARMAC’s antipsychotics and dementia work would be undertaken shortly and this explain the low participation in the campaign. The Committee asked how PHARMAC is determining which Access and Optimal use campaigns will be funded. PHARMAC staff advised that a prioritisation process to determine funding of campaigns is being developed. The Committee asked to be update on this work at the appropriate time. PHARMAC staff advised the Committee of the One Heart Many Lives magazine, and the launch of the cardiovascular guidelines. 11. PHARMAC’s consumer participation activities The Committee noted that PHARMAC staff provided a draft of the Consumer Participation Discussion Document for comment via email. Staff advised that feedback from the Committee was reflected in subsequent changes to the document. The Committee agreed to seek the Board's agreement to making a formal submission on the discussion document. The Committee discussed its views on responses to questions and agreed to finalise the submission prior to its next meeting. The Committee requested that PHARMAC staff send the new Committee members a copy of the Consumer Advisory Committee Terms of Reference Review consultation document, the Committee’s own submission on this, and provide them with the document summarising the submissions. A Committee discussion on the optimal number of CAC meetings per year arose from the broader discussion on PHARMAC’s consumer engagement. The Committee agreed that the Chair write to the Board requesting that the frequency of Committee meetings be increased.

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PHARMAC has withheld some material from these Minutes in accordance with section 6a of the Official Information Act 1982 12. [ Withheld under Section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Official Information Act ] [ Withheld under Section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Official Information Act

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13. Funding and procurement update

The Committee noted the contents of the Funding and Procurement update. Specifically, the Committee noted that PHARMAC had been able to source an alternative brand of oil in water emulsion for eczema and dry skin conditions following the discontinuation of the Lemnis Fatty Cream brand. This topic had been raised in correspondence with the Committee. The Committee also queried why darinuvir had not been listed at the same time as raltegravir, as recommended by PTAC. PHARMAC staff explained that it was because the two medicines were supplied by different pharmaceutical companies and it had not been possible to align the negotiations for the same list date.

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