Dear Pharmaceutical Management Agency,

On 15 August 2022, Pharmac made a press release (https://pharmac.govt.nz/news-and-resourc...) on the funding application for Trikafta (elexacaftor/texacaftor/ivacaftor) stating: "We also estimate that Trikafta could give people with cystic fibrosis who are aged 6 and over a longer and improved quality of life – specifically benefits equivalent to 27 more years at full health when compared to current funded treatments." The "27 more years at full health" figure has been widely publicised by advocacy groups and the media, but I can't seem to find a source or any form of calculation on how that figure was obtained. The closest I got was from the publicly-available technology assessment report, which show an incremental QALY gain of 9.8 years, just a third of the stated 27 years.

Can you please release information of how the "27 more years at full health" figure was calcuated?

Yours faithfully,

Laydan Mortensen

Dear Web Enquiry,

Further to OIA request 2024-25-101.

I have re-read the Technology Assessment Report, and believe I have found where the "27 more years at full health" came from. If my hypotesis is true, the figure was the result of a calculation error.

Section 4.6 gives the following information:
QALY gain of Trikafta (ELX/TEZ/IVA) - 18.11
QALY gain of basic supportive care (BSC) - 8.83
Incremental QALYs gained - 9.28

If someone mistakenly added the 18.11 and 8.83 together instead of subtracting them, that equals 26.94 - that's the 27 years.

Yours sincerely,

Laydan Mortensen