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Established by four independent government purchasing agencies in 1993, New Zealand's Pharmac* has never been far from controversy both within and beyond New Zealand, but despite this, it has performed its role - delivering tax-payer subsidised medicines to the public within a fixed annual budget - extremely well, says Robin Gauld, of the University of Otago in New Zealand.
Pharmac was founded amongst a belief that New Zealanders paid far too much for pharmaceuticals, and there was considerable room for reducing and containing the national pharmaceutical budget. Since then, Gauld says Pharmac has become something of an international role model in its focus on using evidence and economic analyses to guide decisions, and in demanding transparency from the pharmaceutical industry, both while providing an important balance in a context of direct-to-consumer advertising,...