Pharmac asks for feedback on second round of potential brand changes from 2024/25 Annual Tender

7 July 2025

Media release Medicines

Pharmac is asking for feedback on a second list of potential brand changes for funded medicines, as part of its 2024/25 Annual Invitation to Tender.

This second round of consultation follows an earlier round held in early 2025, where Pharmac asked for feedback on proposed brand changes from the 2024/25 tender. More than 30 responses were received from healthcare professionals, advocacy groups, consumers, and suppliers.

“We really appreciate the time and thought that went into the feedback we received earlier this year,” says Pharmac’s Acting Director of Pharmaceuticals Adrienne Martin. “It’s clear that brand changes can affect people in different ways, and we’re committed to making decisions that are well-informed and carefully considered.”

The current consultation includes a list of medicines being considered for brand changes under the 2024/25 tender. Pharmac is inviting feedback from people who take these medicines, and those who support them including prescribers, pharmacists, and caregivers.

“We want to understand what the impact of a brand change might be and what support people would need if their brand of medicine changes,” says Martin. “It’s important to us that our decisions are informed by people’s experiences.”

The consultation document, including the full list of proposed brand changes, is available on the Pharmac website.

Submissions are open until 5pm Wednesday 23 July and can be through the online feedback form or by emailing tenderconsult@pharmac.govt.nz.

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

Pharmac staff talk about the annual tender and this consultation

View transcript

[Nat James] The annual tender is one of the ways that Pharmac manages how much New Zealand spends on medicines each year. We're given a fixed budget by the government to spend on the medicines that we fund and that money needs to pay for all the medicines we already fund. If there's money available after that, we can look at funding new medicines. The annual tender process is really important because it allows Pharmac to free up funds and that's usually somewhere between $30 and $50 million a year. We can then use that money to fund more medicines. When a medicine is no longer under patent, suppliers are able to manufacture and sell generic versions of that medicine so that means the same medicine but with a different manufacturer and a different brand name. This allows for competition which can lead to significant price reductions for the medicines that are already funded in New Zealand.

[Geraldine MacGibbon] So a really important part of our tender process is understanding the impact of brand changes on people who need those medicines. Last year we heard really clearly from the community that we could do a better job about consulting with them on brand changes that we might be making. We're adding a new step to the annual tender process: an additional consultation step to seek feedback from people prescribing dispensing and taking these medicines about the impact of a potential brand change. We're adding this extra step because it's really important to us that our decisions are informed by people's lived experiences.

[Nat James] In addition to the consultation, we also have our tender advisory committee and that's a group made up of doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other clinical specialists. They provide input around items that we're considering for tender. Once we've considered their advice and the advice from that consult, we invite suppliers to submit their commercial bids. This process closes in December and then once we receive those bids, we're in a position to start evaluating them. This year we're carrying out an extra consultation step as part of our annual tender because we'd like to give people who use these medicines the opportunity to share with us what the impact might be and let us know if there's any support that would be required. We expect that the 2025 to 26 annual tender will have a slightly different timeline as we work through changes to improve how we consult. We will be encouraging people to give us feedback via an online form. We'll be asking if you use the medicine, if you're a health professional that supports patients, or if you're a supplier of that medicine. We'll also be asking what support people might need and what the impacts of a potential brand change might be.

Questions and answers

Why do you do an annual tender?

Pharmac is given a fixed budget by the Government to spend on medicines for New Zealanders. This money needs to pay for the medicines we already fund, and if there is money left, we can look at funding new medicines.

We use our annual tender process to reduce the cost of the medicines we already fund. This process allows us to free up between $30 million and $50 million a year, which can be used to fund new medicines as well as manage medicines we already fund.

How does the annual tender work?

When a medicine is no longer under patent, suppliers can sell a generic, often less expensive, version of that medicine. Once a year, we invite suppliers to bid to be the main suppliers of medicines that are no longer under patent. Depending on which supplier’s bid is successful, the funded brand of medicine could change.

The annual tender process kicks off in July, when we release consultation on a draft list of items that we are considering including in the upcoming tender.

We ask clinicians, people who use the medicines, and suppliers a range of questions, including whether or not the item should be included in the tender, and what we should consider when reviewing bids and product samples. We are keen to understand any support that might be needed if we were to change brands.

Once the consultation closes, we send the information to our Tender Clinical Advisory Committee, which is made up of doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other clinical specialists, for its input.

After we’ve considered their advice, we finalise the list of items to be included in the tender and issue an “Invitation to Tender” for these items. This invites suppliers to submit their commercial bids. The tender closes in December, and then we start evaluating the bids.

We then ask some suppliers to send us samples of the medicines they’re bidding to provide as the main supplier. We hold a two-day meeting of the Tender Clinical Advisory Committee in February or March, where Pharmac staff and committee members inspect labels, open packages, test creams, taste medicines, shake bottles and discuss what might work best.

Sometimes, the committee will identify usability issues, which we must consider as part of the bid assessment. A crucial step is identifying what information people prescribing, dispensing, and taking medicines would need to help them understand a potential change in the medicine’s brand.

Our goal is to ensure we provide enough support so people can feel reassured during a change.

We then assess the bid against our decision-making framework, the Factors for Consideration. Specifically, we evaluate whether:

the supplier can meet demand and has a reliable supply record
the brand is approved by Medsafe
the price is sustainable and offers savings that can be reinvested into funding more medicines
there are groups of people for whom a brand change may not be appropriate. If so, we consider what actions Pharmac can take to mitigate or prevent any negative impacts on these individuals and their families or whānau.

We announce these decisions throughout the year, at the end of every month.

Why are you adding an extra step?

A really important part of the tender process is working out what the impacts of a brand change would be for people who need these medicines.

We want to make sure that people prescribing, dispensing, and taking medicines have the right information to help them understand a potential change in the medicine’s brand.

We are currently working to improve our decision making through further consultation for tender decisions.

What is a brand change?

Sometimes Pharmac decides to fund a different brand of medicine than what has been funded before. We do this for a variety of reasons, including to manage supply issues and to save money for New Zealand and make more money available to fund other medicines.

The actual medicine has not changed. It is the same medicine but with a different brand name and sometimes a different appearance or packaging.

Medicines are often sold under more than one brand name. Different manufacturers have different brand names, or sometimes even the same manufacturer produces the same medicine but with different brand names.

You should get the same effect even though the brand may have a different packaging, or be a different colour, shape, size or taste.

The new brand of medicine has been tested, checked and approved by experts at Medsafe (a unit of the Ministry of Health that approves medicines for use in New Zealand).

If you experience any problems talk to your pharmacist or doctor.

Will all these medicines change brands?

What is a ‘line item’?