In November BCAC responded to a Pharmac consultation to shorten its Options for Investment (OFI) list. This list currently has 127 medicines that Pharmac’s expert clinical committees have recommended for funding because they will benefit people, but are still awaiting a funding decision.

Here’s a great idea to show your company really cares this Christmas. The Good Registry’s gift certificates let your clients choose a charity – like BCAC! – for a donation from your company. It’s a great way to thank your clients and colleagues without burdening them with unnecessary ‘Xmas merch’. Click here to find out how it works. 

Here’s an easy way to get Christmas gifts organised well in advance and to help BCAC at the same time. By clicking here you can buy gift certificates for those friends and family who already have everything they need, but would get a great feeling knowing they are helping women with breast cancer. The Good Registry is a great volunteer organisation set up by some Wellington women who are passionate about doing good.

Why not help BCAC as you spread Christmas cheer this year? BCAC’s partnership with The Good Registry makes gift-giving easy. By clicking here you can buy gift certificates for those friends and family who already have everything they need, but would get a great feeling knowing they are helping women with breast cancer.

BCAC is delighted to hear that Pharmac proposes to fund Phesgo®, a rapidly injectable formulation of two anti HER2 medicines, pertuzumab and trastuzumab, from 1 December 2025. Currently these medicines are administered sequentially by intravenous infusion, but Phesgo contains an enzyme that allows it to be given as a single injection under the skin. This means a much shorter treatment time at hospital outpatient clinics for patients.

Dr Emma O’Loughlin, Senior Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Otago, has shared a new set of post-operative exercise videos designed for women recovering from breast cancer surgery in Aotearoa New Zealand. They support recovery after mastectomy, lumpectomy, and lymph node surgery.

Currently, New Zealand insurers can use genetic test results when underwriting insurance policies, potentially leading to higher premiums or policy denials. Against Genomic Discrimination in Aotearoa (AGenDA) is pushing for a ban on the use of genetic information in insurance decisions, mirroring protections seen in other countries.

BCAC Secretary Fay Sowerby, who is also is a spokesperson for AgenDA, filed this report on the group’s latest activity.

BCAC has written a submission on the Healthy Futures Pae Ora Amendment Bill, seeking to reset Pharmac’s statutory objectives.  We asked for removal of the restrictive “within the amount of funding provided”, written in 1993 when Pharmac was established with the purpose of constraining spending on medicines. Like every other Crown Entity, Pharmac is already required to be financially responsible.

The current state of play in developing liquid biopsies for breast cancer was described at Breast Cancer Trials’ Annual Scientific Meeting in Hobart by Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

A liquid biopsy is a blood test that looks for materials, such as circulating tumour cells (CTCs) or cell-free circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) released by breast cancer tumours into the bloodstream.

At the recent Breast Cancer Trials Annual Scientific Meeting in Hobart Professor Shelley Potter from Bristol presented results from the ANTHEM study. This looked at clinical and patient-reported outcomes for women offered oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery vs mastectomy with or without immediate reconstruction.