Subsidising access to GLP-1s through Pharmac would be a “win-win” for New Zealand, according to an Auckland University medical professor.
New research has found more than 80% of healthcare spending in New Zealand goes into treating chronic and long-term conditions.
A huge percentage of those conditions were tied to obesity, Professor of Molecular Medicine and Pathology Peter Shepherd told Mike Hosking.
“We’ve now got these wonderful medications to reduce weight, and they’re showing massive effects long-term in terms of improved outcomes for heart disease, for Alzheimer’s, for diabetes…we need to start proactively funding some of these solutions.”
Some 30-40,000 Kiwis were already paying for the medicines themselves.
“But if we funded it more widely, it'll benefit not just those people who are suffering, but also the rest of us by reducing healthcare bills.”
Illegal versions of the drugs cost around $100-$200 per month, and Shepherd predicted official medications would cost a similar amount once patents ended.
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