Pharmac's set-up risks higher health costs: medicines research

New Zealand's spending on modern pharmaceuticals sits far below comparable OECD countries. (Image: NZIER for Medicines NZ)

Pattrick Smellie

Thu, 23 Oct 2025

The Government's drug-buying agency, Pharmac, is being criticised for its inability to drive hard bargains with Big Pharma, which may be restricting New Zealanders’ access to modern medicines and driving demand for high-cost hospital care.Those are primary conclusions of research for Medicines New Zealand by the NZ Institute of Economic Research (NZIER), examining why NZ’s national pharmaceutical spend is among the lowest in the rich countries club, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).The study concl...

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