Long protest brings arthritis relief

A self-employed gardener from Lyttelton is celebrating after taking on the Government and winning.

Devoted dad Richard Crowe spent months protesting after discovering a subsidised drug – TNF alpha inhibitor drug adalimumab (Humira) – which helped his young daughter cope with debilitating rheumatoid arthritis, was not available to other sufferers in New Zealand.

"I was pretty angry about it," Crowe said.

"It seemed as if people (who) were too ill to stand up for themselves weren't getting a good deal."

Crowe had seen his 13-year-old daughter, Rebecca, respond to the drug – described as a miracle cure – by resuming active life and going to school full-time, having had to rely on a wheelchair beforehand.

The drug, which costs up to $30,000 a year, is subsidised by government drug-buying agency Pharmac for sufferers who begin using it as children, but not for those diagnosed as adults – despite being just as effective for older patients.

Crowe, who is the spokesman for Arthritis Action, came into contact with up to 300 sufferers who were prevented from receiving the drug except by paying for it privately, including young people unable to have children or continue university studies because of their illness.

Crowe spent 20 hours a week for six months on the campaign, and took the fight to the Human Rights Commission on the grounds of age discrimination.

The hard work paid off in May, when the commission accepted Pharmac's policy was discriminatory.

On Monday, the agency announced that from January 1 it was releasing funding so the drug could be subsidised for anyone with severe rheumatoid arthritis.

Crowe said members of his group were "over the moon" on hearing of the decision.

"For some of these people it's as dramatic as getting up from their wheelchairs and walking. Certainly, for my daughter, she couldn't even sit up. Now she's going to school full-time."

Pharmac said the investment was worth $35 million over the next five years, with up to 1000 people expected to be prescribed the drug by the end of that period.