Our health sector partners
When a global supply issue affected the availability of olanzapine depot injections, a medicine used to treat schizophrenia, Pharmac and Health New Zealand worked together to support people until it could be resolved.
People at risk
When a global supply issue affected the availability of olanzapine depot injections, a medicine used to treat schizophrenia, Pharmac and Health New Zealand worked together to support people until it could be resolved.
“We knew this supply issue would affect people with high health needs and would require a collective effort from the health care sector,” says Pharmac’s Contracts Manager Team Leader, Marinda Van Zyl-Greene.
In mid-2023, the supplier notified Pharmac that there were limits to how much olanzapine depot injection they could make due to a shortage of the active ingredient.
“New Zealand was being allocated a set amount of stock. This led to shortages and we were concerned about the impact on people if they couldn’t get the medicine they normally used,” says Van Zyl-Greene.
Health New Zealand and Pharmac worked together to share information about medicine usage, to get a better understanding of what was available across the country, and where it needed to be.
Armed with this information, Health New Zealand was able to create a prioritisation framework to make sure people who needed the depot injection, and couldn’t use alternatives, would get it.
Finding other options
In January 2024, Pharmac also funded aripiprazole depot injection for people with schizophrenia, as another option for people who were unable to access olanzapine depot injection.
“We were told by clinicians, and our partners at Health New Zealand, that aripiprazole depot injection would be a
possible alternative to olanzapine depot injection. So, we moved quickly to fund this medicine and get stock into the country from Australia,” she says.
Keeping people safe as a team
Kyra Sycamore, Specialist Mental Health Pharmacist and convenor of the New Zealand Hospital Pharmacists Association Mental Health Special Interest Group, says that impact to patients was minimised due to the health sector working together.
“When we found out there was a shortage, regular meetings were set up where New Zealand’s psychiatrists and mental health pharmacists could get up-to-date, accurate information from Pharmac about stock coming into the country and we could share information with Pharmac about stock levels in hospitals and pharmacies.”
“It was transparent, two-way information sharing, and having all the facts on the table allowed the prioritisation system to be set up quickly and work effectively,” she says.
Sycamore says the key to limiting impact for patients was joint decision making and good communication.
“We were all in the same meeting working together to reduce the impact on patients. There was a mental health pharmacist and a psychiatrist from every region at the table – we were really making decisions together,” she says.