Prioritisation activity in the June quarter

Application priority lists

Every year we receive over 100 funding applications from health care professionals, consumer groups and suppliers. These applications include requests to fund new medicines and to widen access to medicines that we already fund.

We ask our clinical advisory committees to assess the available evidence and recommend whether we should fund, defer, or decline the applications. With their advice, we work to complete an assessment, including a health economic appraisal if required.

We apply the Factors for Consideration throughout our assessment of an application. The factors consider four areas: health need, health benefit, suitability, and costs and savings.

Read more about the Factors for Consideration on our website.(external link)

Once the assessment is complete, we take the application to a quarterly internal prioritisation meeting and add applications to one of the following priority lists:

• options for investment (OFI)
• only funded if cost neutral or cost saving
• recommended for decline.

Read more about our priority lists for funding applications(external link)

Options for investment list

We rank applications on our options for investment (OFI) list from highest to lowest priority but keep these rankings confidential so that we can negotiate the best prices with suppliers.

As of 30 June 2026, there are 162 applications on the OFI.

18 new proposals added to the OFI

During the June prioritisation quarter, we ranked 18 new proposals on the OFI list.

New proposals ranked:

• Mepolizumab(external link) - for people who have ongoing sinus problems with nasal polyps (small growths inside the nose or sinuses).
• Tezepelumab(external link) - for people who have ongoing sinus problems with nasal polyps (small growths in the nose or sinuses).
• Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor(external link) - waldenström’s macroglobulinaemia, a rare type of blood cancer.
• Nirsevimab(external link) - a medicine given to babies to help protect them from RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), a common virus that can cause serious lung infections in infants.
• Aprepitant 40 mg(external link) – used to prevent nausea and vomiting after surgery.
• Rivaroxaban(external link) – used to treat peripheral artery disease.
• Ferric Derisomaltose(external link) – for people with iron deficiency and anaemia.
• Pembrolizumab(external link) – for people with cervical cancer.
• Bevacizumab(external link) – for people with ovarian cancer.
• Perampanel(external link) – for people with generalised epilepsy.
• Oral feed 2.4kcal/mL (Fortsip Compact Protein)(external link) – nutritional supplement.
• Phlexy-Vits(external link) – for people who require a ketogenic diet or specialised protein supplements.
• AEON Sodium Chloride 5 percent(external link) – used to treat corneal oedema, a condition where excess fluid builds up in the cornea.
• del Nido Cardioplegia solution(external link) – used during open-heart surgery.
• Paliperidone(external link) – for people with schizoaffective disorder, a mental health condition that includes symptoms of both schizophrenia and mood disorders.
• Vancomycin 125 mg oral capsule(external link) – used to treat diarrhoea.
• Captopril(external link) – used to control high blood pressure in patients with a spinal cord injury.
• Paliperidone(external link) (three monthly depot) – for people with schizoaffective disorder.

6 proposals reranked

Proposals re-ranked with updated information:

• Apixaban(external link) – reduces the risk of stroke in people with certain heart conditions and prevent harmful blood clots.
• Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor(external link) – for people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells.
• Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor(external link) – for people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells.
• Febuxostat(external link) – used to treat gout.
• Dostarlimab(external link) – for people with endometrial cancer.
• Pegunigalsidase alfa-iwxj(external link) – for people with fabry disease, a rare inherited condition that causes a build up of fatty substances in the body’s cells.

Only if cost neutral or cost saving list

If our assessment confirms an application does not provide any additional health benefit compared to treatments we already fund, it may be ranked on the only if cost-neutral or cost-saving list. We would look to fund these applications if we negotiated a deal that would be cost-neutral or cost-saving.

8 applications ranked

During the June quarter, we ranked 8 applications on the only if cost neutral or cost saving list):

• Netupitant with palonosetron(external link) – used to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by certain cancer treatments.
• Whey protein concentrate (unflavoured)(external link) – nutritional supplement for people who have increased protein needs or difficulty maintain adequate protein levels.
• Pembrolizumab (subcutaneous)(external link) – a medicine used to treat a range of cancers, but who may receive the medicine as subcutaneous (under the skin) injection instead of an intravenous infusion.
• Momelotinib(external link) – for people with myelofibrosis, a rare blood cancer that affects the bone marrow.
• Tadalafil(external link) – used to help manage pulmonary hypertension in people undergoing cardiac surgery.
• Tadalafil(external link) – for people with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a condition where the blood pressure in the arteries carrying blood from the heart to the lungs is too high.
• Fortsip PlantBased(external link) – nutritional drink for people who are unable to get enough nutrition from food alone.
• Sodium chloride oral liquid(external link) – for newborn babies and children who need sodium supplementation as part of their medical care.

Recommended for decline list

There are a range of reasons a funding application may be added to the recommend for decline list. Our expert clinical advisors may have recommended that the funding application be declined, or they may have recommended we fund the medicine, but during our analysis we’ve found:

• There is a more effective medicine for the same condition already funded
• the medicine would provide no additional benefits over other treatments we already fund
• the medicine may be harmful
• the application has been overtaken by another funding application for the same medicine
• no company is supplying the medicine in New Zealand.

When applications are added to the recommended for decline list, they become inactive, and we stop working on the application. While applications may be listed on the decline list, they are only formally declined after public consultation to ensure we haven’t missed anything important.

Read more about this process: Declining inactive funding applications(external link)

Declining an application doesn’t prevent us from reconsidering funding for the medicine in the future if new information becomes available.

10 applications ranked

During the June quarter we ranked 10 applications on the recommended for decline list (detailed descriptions of indications available on the Application Tracker):

• Avacopan(external link) – used to treat a rare autoimmune condition (ANCA‑associated vasculitis) where the immune system attacks blood vessels.
• Ipilimumab in combination with nivolumumab(external link) - immunotherapy medicines used together to treat kidney cancer.
• Everolimus(external link) – for people with breast cancer that has spread or cannot be removed with surgery.
• Pembrolizumab(external link) – for people with pancreatic cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
• Bevacizumab(external link) – for people with bowel (colorectal) cancer that has spread to the liver.
• Cabozanitinib(external link) – used to treat a type of kidney cancer.
• Ibrutinib(external link) – for people with waldenström macroglobulinaemia, a rare type of blood cancer.
• Ibrutinib(external link) - for people with waldenström macroglobulinaemia, a rare type of blood cancer, for people who have not responded to previous treatment.
• Nivolumab(external link) – used to treat urothelial carcinoma, an advanced type of bladder and urinary tract cancer.
• Perampanel(external link) – for people with generalised epilepsy and myoclonic seizures (sudden, brief muscle jerks).