New Zealand

Pharmac submissions, built end-to-end.

Q: What does a Pharmac submission need?

A complete Pharmac funding application includes a clinical rationale, a comparator analysis, a cost-utility or cost-minimisation model, a budget impact analysis on the NZ population, and a structured response to the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC) review criteria. Pharmac's Prescription for Pharmacoeconomic Analysis (PFPA) sets the evaluation conventions.

Q: What discount rate does Pharmac use?

Pharmac uses a 3.5% annual discount rate for both costs and outcomes in its base-case analyses. Sensitivity to 0% and 5% is conventional.

Q: How long does Pharmac take to review?

Review timelines vary by application class and complexity. A typical pathway runs through PTAC for clinical advice, then through Pharmac's specialist subcommittees, then through prioritisation and contracting. The overall journey from application to listing can span 12 to 24 months for non-urgent listings; urgent paediatric or oncology applications can move faster.

Q: Do you handle medical devices for Pharmac?

Pharmac has been progressively taking on hospital medical-device procurement in recent years. We build evidence packs aligned to Pharmac's Medical Devices criteria: hospital network impact, cost-comparison vs incumbent technology, clinical pathway implications. The structure differs from pharmaceutical submissions, and we adapt the model accordingly.

Q: Can investors see the model?

Yes. Every engagement runs on HEX Platform with read access for your team and your investors' technical reviewers. The Pharmac dossier and the underlying model travel together. No separate Excel or TreeAge hand-off.

Cost-utility models, budget impact analyses, and the dossier that wraps them, built to Pharmac's Prescription for Pharmacoeconomic Analysis.

What Pharmac's evaluation actually needs.

Pharmac funds pharmaceuticals and, in recent years, an expanding scope of hospital medical devices for the New Zealand publicly funded health system. Applications are evaluated by the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC) and Pharmac's specialist subcommittees, with prioritisation handled centrally against Pharmac's decision criteria.

A funding application turns on five things: a clinical case for use in the NZ population, a defensible comparator choice, a cost-utility analysis (CUA) or cost-minimisation analysis (CMA), a budget impact projection that the agency can stress-test, and a structured response to Pharmac's evaluation criteria. The Prescription for Pharmacoeconomic Analysis (PFPA) sets the methodological conventions: a 3.5% discount rate, healthcare-system perspective, lifetime horizon where appropriate, and sensitivity ranges including probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA).

Pharmac does not publish a formal cost-effectiveness threshold. Decisions are made within a fixed annual budget, so the meaningful question is "value relative to other applications in the queue" rather than "below a willingness-to-pay line." This shapes how we frame uncertainty, opportunity cost, and budget impact in the dossier.

Where HEC fits in the pathway.

Pre-application strategy

Comparator selection, evidence-gap analysis, NZ-specific epidemiology framing, decision around CUA vs CMA. Often the highest-leverage moment in the timeline.

Model build on HEX Platform™

Markov, partitioned survival, or decision-tree. Every parameter sourced, distribution-typed, audit-logged. PSA, deterministic sensitivity analysis (DSA), and scenario analyses pre-baked so PTAC questions can be answered in real time.

Dossier drafting

The funding application itself: clinical case, model description, budget impact, response to evaluation criteria. Written in Pharmac's plain-English idiom, not a generic global template.

PTAC response cycle

PTAC reviews almost always come back with questions. The model on HEX Platform lets us run revised assumptions and update the dossier within a working week of receiving questions.

Subcommittee specialist review

Cancer Treatments Subcommittee, Anti-Infectives Subcommittee, and others have specialist conventions. We prepare targeted briefings ahead of those reviews.

Budget impact stress tests

Pharmac's budget-impact lens is operationally specific. Uptake assumptions, displacement modelling, and Pharmaceutical Schedule positioning all get attention in the budget impact section of the dossier.

Common questions on Pharmac submissions.

What does a Pharmac submission need?

A funding application includes the clinical case, a comparator analysis, a cost-utility or cost-minimisation model, a budget impact projection, and a structured response to Pharmac's decision criteria. The Prescription for Pharmacoeconomic Analysis (PFPA) sets the methodological conventions.

What discount rate does Pharmac use?

3.5% per year on both costs and outcomes in the base case. Sensitivity scenarios at 0% and 5% are conventional.

How long does Pharmac take to review?

Timelines vary by application class and prioritisation. A typical pathway runs through PTAC, then specialist subcommittees, then Pharmac's prioritisation framework. From application to listing can be 12 to 24 months for non-urgent cases.

Do you handle medical devices for Pharmac?

Yes. Pharmac's medical-device evaluation framework is structurally different from pharmaceutical applications, and we build the model accordingly: hospital network impact, comparison vs incumbent technology, clinical pathway implications.

Can investors see the model?

Yes. Engagements run on HEX Platform with read access for your team and your investors' technical reviewers. The Pharmac dossier and the underlying model travel together. No separate Excel or TreeAge hand-off, no opacity on what's been assumed where.

Planning a Pharmac application?

30 minutes is usually enough to scope what the submission needs and whether an agreement fits. We share an indicative engagement band by the end of the call.

Book a 30-minute call