To the CEOs Of all PHOs New Zealand 27 May 2022 Dear Sir/Madam, Re: FREE EpiPen® - Allergy New Zealand FundaPen2 UPDATE We wanted to give you a quick update to let you know that there are fewer than 1,500 Free Epipens® still available nationally from our FundaPen2 initiative. Once prescriptions for 3,355 FundaPens have been received, normal prescription protocols will apply, and adrenaline auto injectors will once again need to be self-funded by patients and their families. Thank you! More than 1,500 NZ individuals and families have benefited in the last three months from the FundaPen2 initiative, including children with compromised access to medical care. This would not have been possible without you and your members’ acceptance and support of the campaign. The New Zealand allergy community is very grateful to Pub Charity for making this initiative possible. FundaPen2 continues to be available as an option for your patients renewing their Epipen® on a ‘first come, first served basis’. I have separately attached a copy of the FundaPen2 Prescriber Process for your members’ reference. After our first run of the FundaPen campaign in 2020, Pharmac issued a global public tender for adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs). We are looking forward to learning the result of that tender process. We launched FundaPen2 to continue raising awareness, and to compel Pharmac and the Ministry of Health to fund two AAIs per year for every Kiwi diagnosed at risk of anaphylaxis. We estimate the cost of such a decision to be less than $5 million per year - a small price to pay to look after more than 20,000 New Zealanders living with the risk of anaphylaxis – a life-threatening condition. Thank you again for supporting this effective initiative. Yours sincerely,
Mark Dixon CEO ceo@allergy.org.nz