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Sign-off for a huge\xa0Government\xa0funding boost for\xa0Pharmac\xa0- which would allow for greater access to potential life-changing drugs for cancer patients - could come as soon as Monday.\xa0\xa0

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed she would announce a policy \u201cvery shortly\u201d, but wouldn't confirm the exact timing. \xa0

Willis was speaking to Newstalk ZB\u2019s Mike Hosking this morning, following reporting by\xa0The Post\xa0that an announcement of a $600 million boost for drug funding is imminent.\xa0\xa0

That money could allow National to keep its pre-election promise to fund life-saving cancer treatments, while also giving Pharmac more money for other drugs.\xa0\xa0

Willis told Hosking no announcement would be made today.\xa0\xa0

But she did not deny, when asked, that an announcement about drug funding would be made next week following Cabinet sign-off on Monday.\xa0\xa0

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working very hard on this policy and we\u2019re going to make an announcement very shortly,\u201d she told Hosking.\xa0\xa0

She did not specify whether the $600m figure was accurate.\xa0\xa0

Willis\u2019 comments come after the Government has been accused of breaking an election promise to fund 13 cancer-specific medicines, after this year\u2019s Budget did not include funding for the policy.\xa0\xa0

Health Minister Shane Reti has\xa0promised the drugs will still be funded and delivered this year.\xa0\xa0

That apparently put Reti at odds with\xa0Pharmac Minister David Seymour\xa0who this week said he could not guarantee funding for the specific 13 drugs listed in the\xa0National Party\u2019s\xa0election\xa0policy, partly because that would\xa0threaten Pharmac\u2019s negotiating ability.\xa0\xa0

However, an additional $600m would represent an almost 40 per cent increase in Pharmac\u2019s budget, which could give the drug-buying agency the freedom to buy the 13 cancer medicines along with other medications, maintaining its independence.\xa0\xa0

Health advocacy group Patient Voice Aotearoa described the pending policy as \u201cexcellent news, not only for terminally-ill cancer patients, but for many\xa0of the 330,000 New Zealanders who are waiting for one or more of the 90 medicines on Pharmac\u2019s Options for Investment List\u201d.\xa0\xa0

\u201cToday\u2019s news will put a significant dent in Pharmac\u2019s waiting list of medicines that they want to fund,\u201d chair Malcolm Mulholland said.\xa0\xa0

\u201cThis is worth celebrating. I hope that today\u2019s news signals the end of New Zealand being the only country in the world with a waiting list of medicines.\xa0\xa0

\u201cHaving patients wait for years for a medicine not only leads to poorer health outcomes but is inhumane. It should be to our eternal shame that successive Governments underfunded Pharmac for over two decades which resulted in an ever-growing waiting list of medicines, and consequently, lives either being cut short or living in pain and misery.\u201d\xa0\xa0

The policy, campaigned on by National ahead of the 2023 election, promised to fund 13 cancer treatments which were unavailable in New Zealand.\xa0\xa0

The list of drugs had been identified in a 2022 Cancer Control Agency report. Some experts and advocates, including those in that report, have questioned whether other or more modern drugs would be more effective.\xa0\xa0

The Budget this year didn\u2019t include funding for the policy, prompting widespread criticism and forcing the Government to come up with a solution to honour the commitment. No timeline has been offered regarding an announcement on the future of the policy, except that it would be implemented by the end of the year.\xa0\xa0

Reti, a National MP, earlier this week admitted the Government\xa0had poorly communicated the policy\u2019s future but he stood by his party\u2019s policy, guaranteeing the same 13 drugs would be funded.\xa0\xa0

\u201cWe had made a commitment to these people and they saw themselves in this policy and so we\u2019re going to deliver that policy.\u201d\xa0

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