Pharmac has finally reached a provisional agreement to fund lung cancer drugs Keytruda and Tecentriq.
The Cancer Society has described it as a game-changer for patients who've long been advocating for the treatment. But the funding is also too late for some.
Jason Guttenbeil's family is still feeling the impact of his death four years on. The father-of-four died in 2018 of lung cancer.
"He was one of the pillars of our whanau. We miss him every day," Jason's daughter Antonia Guttenbeil said.
Jason would've died even sooner if it wasn't for this expensive drug, Keytruda.
"The quality of life that he got from it, and the extension of life, was really noticeable," sister-in-law Tash Guttenbeil said.
Jason only got access to the drug thanks to the generosity of Kiwis chipping in.
"From my understanding it cost about $12,000 a month," Tash said.
Advocates have long been pushing for Pharmac to fund it. And on Friday the drug-buying agency revealed it's set to fund Keytruda and another drug called Tricentriq from April.
"Hooray! Lung cancer patients and specialists have been wanting this for a very long time," Cancer Society CEO Lucy Elwood said.
Keytruda is a first-line treatment that can be used on its own or with chemo to treat advanced lung cancer. Tecentriq is used if Keytruda and chemo fails to do the job.
Pharmac is promising hundreds will qualify for the treatment.
"There's going to be about 420 in the first year, rising to about 650 for Keytruda. And then the second treatment will cater for about 300 people in the first year," Pharmac operations director Lisa Williams said.
The Cancer Society believes it will especially improve outcomes for Māori and Pasifika, who're more likely to die from lung cancer than Pākehā.
"A number of patients have been getting Keytruda privately, and that creates inequities in the system, so there's an impact here on lifting it, and making Keytruda available for everybody," Elwood said.
"Pharmac has been underfunded for a long time, that's why this Government has put so much more funding into Pharmac," Health Minister Andrew Little added.
Funding that cancer advocates are celebrating - though it's come too late for some.
