Rubifen vs. Ritalin – Pharmac Changes its Mind
ByThe New Zealand Herald reports that Pharmac is looking to change its rule that everyone on Ritalin has to switch to Rubifen.
This policy will allow for 1% of people to take Ritalin (instead of the cheaper Rubifen) and have it covered under Pharmac. The policy likely won’t be retroactive – i.e. if you are already paying out of pocket for your ritalin, you may still have to.
This doesn’t seem ideal – but it does show that the government is willing to move on this issue. I commend the parents who have advocated for this change – your work is making a difference. Now is the time to be sure to be vocal – so that as the government shapes this new policy – your voice will be heard.
This is great news for our New Zealand readers – please share your thoughts in the comments below – especially because we’d like to know what’s really going on from you.
Dr. Kenny
Hi, I have submitted previous messages about the David vs Goliath battle we are fighting against Pharmac re Rubifen. I personally have received over 50 emails from people with adverse reactions to Rubifen. The Centre of Adverse Reaction to medicine (CARM) had received 78 notification about Rubifen at the end of August and have tabled their safety concerns at their quarterly meeting last week. One leading ADHD doctor in Auckland, with over 600 patients, has stated on his website that 20-25% of his patients have problems with Rubifen. We have children being stood down from school all over New Zealand as a direct result of their increased aggression and other associated behaviours since they changed to Rubifen. Some have even been in serious trouble with the police.
Pharmac’s Exceptional Circumstances panel has not funded any of those that have applied due to adverse reactions to Rubifen. They have an unwieldy process and criteria that are subjective and fuzzy. If there new process is based on this one then I don’t hold out much hope for many/any people getting the funding they require.
This has been a long battle and apparently Pharmac are also negotiating with the suppliers of Rubifen to agree to Pharmac subsidising Ritalin for those that have had an adverse reaction to Rubifen.
This is what so many desperate parents want. If only these politicians and manager could spend a few days in some of the homes of people that have written to me. They could only but have compassion and start to make changes. Maybe they would look at these people as people and not numbers.
Anyway, this is a very good turning point. We have until 26th October to make submissions on the proposed changes to the tender process. The proposed new tender proscess document can be found on the Pharmac website:
http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/tender_documents.asp
Thank you so much for supporting us.
Kind regards
Di Celliers
My mother reads your blog routinely. I wanted to share this article with you. It’s very interesting. By bringing out the good points, a doctor explains how nutrition is all anyone ever needs to fight ADD.
The doctor starts out by referring to Paris Hilton’s infamous run-in with a DUI felony. Paris has been on medication for ADD since she was a child and all of the drugs come with nasty side-effects. Dr. Sears directs patients to the “Modern Diet,†stating that nutrition works as an alternative solution.
He makes a convincing argument. Can society really have been duped by the medical prescription field for so long?
Check it out: http://www.alsearsmd.com/signup/ADHD/ADHDpress2.html.
I am anxious to hear your feedback. Thanks, -Todd
Hi – just wanted to let you know that we won our battle with Pharmac!
They are going to subsidise anyone for Ritalin who has experienced adverse reactions to Rubifen.
The fact that we were able to mobilise so many people to follow the correct channels in lodging their genuine complaints about the adverse reactions of Rubifen, meant that this factual information had to be treated with the correct response by Pharmac. It was not enough for people to simply tell their doctors, they had to know what further to do and then do it.
They are still investigating the safety of Rubifen, but in the mean time have written to patients and sent them application forms to apply for a subsidy of Ritalin.
This is a real victory for the small people and just goes to show that we can all make a difference.
See link to article in the newspaper: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10466334
Thank you for supporting our campaign.
i was taking Vyvanse & it work Great for me, my Insurance medicaid wouldn’t cover it, so now i am taking Generic Ritalin. I do not feel as though it’s working as well. Is Vvanse a Better medication? Or How is it Different from ritalin? thank you for you info. i need help!