New Zealand’s drug-funding body, Pharmac, has announced that Eli Lilly/Merck KgGa’s Erbitux® (cetuximab) will now be funded for left-sided, RAS and BRAF wild-type, metastatic colorectal cancer. Minor amendments have also been made to eligibility criteria for currently funded head and neck cancer indications.
Pharmac is still assessing whether funding should also be extended to BRAF-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer and has invited a funding application to be made for cetuximab in combination with encorafenib. This funding application would require a submission for Medsafe approval of encorafenib which is not yet approved in New Zealand, unlike in the US where this combination therapy has been approved.