Consultation on the draft 2025/26: Invitation to tender for public input

What we’re proposing

Pharmac | Te Pātaka Whaioranga is seeking feedback from consumers, whānau, patient support groups, consumer advocacy groups, the public, and other interested people on the draft 2025/26 Invitation to Tender.

We’re particularly interested in feedback on the following questions:

• Would changing the brand of any of the medicines be inappropriate, and why?
• Are there any features of the medicines that we should consider when evaluating them, for example pack sizes?
• What would be the key issues for Pharmac to consider if there was a change in funded brand for any of the medicines?
• If funding restrictions (such as Special Authority criteria) were removed, what potential benefits, issues, or consequences could occur?
• Are there any groups of people where it would be clinically inappropriate, or more difficult, to undergo a brand change for a particular medicine? If yes, please provide detail.
• Are the proposed Additional Special Terms for intra-uterine devices [non-hormonal] (IUDs) appropriate?
• For intra-uterine devices [non-hormonal] (IUDs), we are considering making a MDR certification a mandatory requirement, rather than a preference. What are the potential issues, benefits or consequences of this change?

We welcome any other feedback you may give. You can contact us if you wish to meet to discuss anything in this consultation.

We are also seeking feedback from healthcare professionals and suppliers.

Health care professionals’ consultation

Industry consultation

Please share this consultation with others who you think might be interested. We want to hear feedback from a range of people.

What would change?

As a result of the annual tender, your medicine may:

• change from one brand to another
• change from multiple brands to a single brand
• not change brand
• become available to more people

We introduce any brand changes over time, usually five months. The new brand will then be in place for at least 3 years.

One brand may not fit all

Most people will start on, or move to, any new brand easily. However, we understand that people’s experiences when taking medicines can be different.

In addition to clinical advice, we use our consultation on the draft tender to find out if we might need more options for some medicines. We can use an “alternative brand allowance” (ABA) to support people who may experience, or are at greater risk of, negative outcomes from a brand change.

This consultation is a chance to provide feedback on whether we should allow:

• people to move back to the old brand after bad side effects
• more time to change brands
• some patients to avoid switching altogether.

New round of consultation

For last year’s invitation to tender, Pharmac introduced an extra consultation step after the tender had closed, in addition to this consultation prior to the tender being issued. The additional consultation was for medicines where, after looking at the bids, we were considering a brand change. This is intended to help us better understand what a brand change could mean to people and how we could best support any change.

We did two consultations:

28 May 2025 | Consultation on possible brand changes through the annual tender

8 July 2025 | Second consultation on possible brand changes through the annual tender July 2025

This additional consultation step will be incorporated into the 2025/26 annual Invitation to Tender process and for future tenders.

Is my medicine in the tender list?

Schedule two: Products to be tendered (draft, by therapeutic group) lists the medicines that we are proposing to include in this year’s tender. Medicines have been grouped according to the therapeutic group classification system used in the Pharmaceutical Schedule.

A therapeutic group is a category that includes medicines used to treat similar health problems.  

Below is a list of these groups, and the corresponding page numbers in the PDF version of this consultation. [PDF, 257 KB] Medicines that may treat multiple health problems only appear in one group.

Therapeutic group	Pages
Alimentary Tract and Metabolism	8 - 9
Blood and Blood Forming Organs	9
Cardiovascular System	10 - 13
Dermatologicals	13 - 15
Genito-Urinary System	15
Hormone Preparations	15 - 16
Infections	16 - 18
Musculoskeletal System	18
Nervous System	19 - 22
Oncology and Immunosuppressants	22 - 23
Respiratory	23
Sensory Organs	23

This year’s draft Invitation to Tender includes 61 tender items that have not previously been included in the tender and/or are not currently listed on the Pharmaceutical Schedule. These tender items are as follows:

If you are unsure of the chemical name or therapeutic group for your brand of medicine, you can search the brand in the Pharmaceutical Schedule.

Search the Pharmaceutical Schedule(external link)

About the annual tender

Why does Pharmac run the tender?

Pharmac uses the tender to make sure medicines continue to be supplied and to create savings. Pharmac uses any savings to fund new medicines.

What is the result of the tender?

If we award a tender for a medicine to a pharmaceutical supplier, then that supplier’s brand becomes the main funded brand of that medicine. It would likely be the only brand of that medicine funded on the Pharmaceutical Schedule. We call this “Principal Supply Status”. For this tender round, Principal Supply Status would be in place until June 2028. 

If the brand awarded the tender was already the only funded brand, there would be no noticeable difference for most people, although the cost to the government’s medicines budget may change.

Which medicines are included in the tender?

Each year, Pharmac runs a tender that includes some of the medicines on the Pharmaceutical Schedule (the list of funded medicines). The list of medicines changes from year to year. Typically, medicines are tendered every three years.

Most medicines in the annual tender are already funded in New Zealand and are no longer under patent. A patent lets the inventor of a medicine own it exclusively for a set period – when that period ends, other suppliers can then make and sell that medicine.

Who does Pharmac talk to about the tender?

Before we run the tender each year, we ask for feedback from healthcare professionals, consumer groups, the pharmaceutical industry, and the public. This can tell us if:

• tendering is appropriate for each medicine
• there are any potential issues for us to think about when considering a change in brand for a particular medicine.

Pharmac’s Tender Clinical Advisory Committee gives us advice on every tender decision we make. The committee is made up of healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists. As needed, we also seek more advice from specialists in particular fields, such as cancer or mental health.

The feedback and advice we get makes sure our decisions support New Zealanders to live longer, healthier lives.

More about the annual tender

Other benefits from the annual tender

The tender can result in savings for the medicines budget. We can use the savings to fund new medicines and make changes to the tendered medicines. For example:

• If the medicine is currently partially funded, it could become fully funded if the tender was awarded
• The medicine could be added to the all-at-once (‘stat’) dispensing list, which would mean that people could collect prescriptions all at once, rather than monthly.
• We might change or remove funding restrictions so more people can use it (for example, a Special Authority restriction, endorsement, or prescriber-type restriction). We might consult on this separately before making a decision.
• Some medicines or formulations may become funded for the first time through the tender

We are interested in your feedback on potential changes for the medicines we are tendering.

On the Pharmaceutical Schedule you can search for your medicine to see all dispensing and funding restrictions that apply.

More about the Pharmaceutical Schedule

Additional Special Terms

We have included Additional Special Terms in the draft 2024/25 Invitation to Tender contract for intra-uterine devices [Non-hormonal] (IUDs). This clause would require that potential suppliers offer education, training, and support resources to safely use the supplier’s IUD product. This could include a description of the inserter and IUD materials and insertion instructions. 

Any feedback on these Additional Special Terms will help inform the final contract.

Intra-uterine device (Non-hormonal)

You shall provide the following information when submitting a Tender Bid for the Pharmaceutical intra-uterine device [Non-hormonal] (IUD Tender Item):

• the size of the IUD Tender Item, including length and width measurements as well as the diameter of the inserter;
• a description of the material the inserter is made of;
• the duration of the therapeutic effect of the IUD Tender Item; and
• the metals which are contained in the IUD Tender Item.

You shall provide the following Resources at no cost for the IUD Tender Item, for the provision of education, training and support to healthcare professionals in respect of the use of the IUD Tender Item. 

For the purposes of this clause “Resources” shall include but not be limited to the:

• provision of training materials (DVDs, pamphlets, leaflets, brochures) to healthcare professionals;
• provision of an information sheet explaining the differences between the current brand of intra-uterine device and your IUD Tender Item; and
• provision of presentations and/or demonstrations on the use of your IUD Tender Item to patients and/or healthcare professionals.

Explanation of terms, symbols, and abbreviations

Some of the terms, abbreviations and symbols used in the draft tender list are quite specific.

Terms / abbreviations used in the draft tender list:

Term / abbreviation	Explanation
Tab	Tablet
Cap	Capsule
Liq	Liquid
Inj	Injection
Suppos	Suppository
Grans	Granules
OP	Original pack to be dispensed

Symbols used in the draft tender list

Symbol	Explanation
Underlined	Tender items where there is currently a principal supply contract are underlined. The price and subsidy for these items are fixed until 30 June 2025 unless otherwise stated in the comments column, therefore a listing of a new brand could only occur after that date.
C	To be tendered for Principal Supply Status (community medicines).
H	To be tendered for Principal Supply Status (hospital medicines).
PCT	Pharmaceuticals for which Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora hospitals may claim a subsidy through Section B of the Pharmaceutical Schedule.
+	Pharmac has been advised of the existence of a patent.
*	There is no fully funded product available for this tender item (in relation to community supply).
@	Additional Stock Pharmaceuticals (ASP). The supplier of the successful tender bid would be required to hold additional stock.
#	A rebate currently exists. Rebates mean the price published in the Pharmaceutical Schedule is higher than the actual net price paid. Accepting a rebate arrangement with a supplier means that we can fund a medicine at an affordable cost.

Key dates

30 July 2025 – Consultation begins

10 September 2025 – Consultation closes

September 2025 –Tender Clinical Advisory Committee meets

Late October/Early November 2025 – Final Invitation to Tender issued

December 2025 – Invitation to Tender closes

January 2026 – Earliest tender results announced

April 2026 – Earliest listing of new brands

Providing feedback

Feedback should be provided to the tender analysts via

our online form or 

tenderconsult@pharmac.govt.nz

All feedback received before the closing date will be considered by Pharmac’s Board or its delegate before finalising the 2025/26 Invitation to Tender.

Your feedback may be shared

When you give feedback on a consultation, your feedback becomes official information that Pharmac holds. Pharmac has legal responsibilities for how we manage this official information, under laws such as the Official Information Act and Privacy Act.

Pharmac may receive a request from people for official information, which could include your feedback. Legally, Pharmac must consider whether your feedback should be released.

We will consider your views when assessing whether the feedback has to be released. Tell us if there is anything about your feedback that you would prefer wasn’t released.

If your feedback is proposed for release, then Pharmac will contact you, unless there is a legal reason that we can't.

Note that Pharmac collects and holds your information in line with our Privacy Statement.