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Medicines Act 1981

Dealings with medicines and medical devices - Exemptions

29A: Exemption for funded alternative medicine

You could also call this:

"Getting special medicine when the usual one is not available"

Illustration for Medicines Act 1981

You can get a special medicine without the usual rules if a doctor asks for it. This medicine is called a funded alternative medicine. It is used when the usual medicine is not available. You can get this medicine if a doctor needs it to treat a patient. The doctor can ask someone to supply the medicine. The medicine can then be given to the patient. A funded alternative medicine is a new medicine that has not been approved. It is listed as an alternative because the approved medicine is in short supply. Pharmac is an organisation that decides which medicines are listed. The pharmaceutical schedule is a list of medicines that Pharmac decides on, as stated in section 4 of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022. The rules in sections 20 and 24 do not apply in this case. This means a doctor can give the medicine to a patient. Someone can also supply the medicine to a pharmacy for a patient.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1555671.

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Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Public healthHealth and wellbeing > Healthcare services
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29: Exemption for medicine required by specified practitioners, or

"Some medical workers can get medicine to give to patients without extra checks."

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29B: Reporting sale or supply of new medicine exempted under section 29 or 29A, or

"Telling the government about selling new medicines before they're approved"

Part 2Dealings with medicines and medical devices
Exemptions

29AExemption for funded alternative medicine

  1. Sections 20 and 24 do not prevent—

  2. a person supplying to an authorised prescriber, on the authorised prescriber’s request, a funded alternative medicine required by that authorised prescriber for the treatment of a particular patient currently under that authorised prescriber’s care; or
    1. a person supplying to a pharmacy practice a medicine described in paragraph (a) for dispensing to the patient; or
      1. an authorised prescriber administering the funded alternative medicine to the patient.

        1. In this section,—

          funded alternative medicine means a new medicine—

          1. that has not been granted consent by the Minister under section 20, 22D, or 23 of this Act; and
            1. that is listed in the pharmaceutical schedule by Pharmac as an alternative to a medicine that has been granted consent by the Minister under those provisions, because the consented medicine is in short supply

              Pharmac has the meaning given in section 4 of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022

                pharmaceutical schedule has the meaning given in section 4 of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022.

                Notes
                • Section 29A: inserted, on , by section 12 of the Medicines Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 66).