Nearly 1,900 submissions nationwide informed the final criteria, protecting cover for Māori and Pacific Peoples, and extending it to thousands more.
WBOPPHO welcomes Pharmac’s decision to widen access to four type 2 diabetes medicines from 1 September 2026. It responds to a key concern raised in the organisation’s submission during the consultation period: that the changes must not reduce access for Māori and Pacific Peoples.
Under the approved criteria, everyone covered by the previous settings keeps that cover, and an estimated 14,000 more people are expected to become eligible in the first year.
Led by WBOPPHO Diabetes and Nutrition Services Lead Alice Talmage, the submission was one of nearly 1,900 nationwide that helped shape the final criteria. It backed wider eligibility while asking Pharmac not to achieve it at the expense of equity.
“Our submission recognised that the proposal would widen access for some people, but we could not support a change that risked leaving some Māori and Pacific Peoples behind,” Alice said. “These medicines can help protect the heart and kidneys, as well as lower blood glucose. People should not have to wait until complications develop before they can access treatment that may help prevent them.”
Pharmac had first proposed removing ethnicity-based eligibility and lowering the cardiovascular risk threshold, a change that could have left some Māori and Pacific Peoples worse off than before. Following the collective feedback, the widened criteria now cover people with type 2 diabetes whose HbA1c remains above 53 mmol/mol despite treatment with other funded diabetes medicines.
It is a reminder of what evidence-led advocacy can achieve alongside the voices of people living with diabetes, whānau, clinicians and providers.
