Proposal To Fund A New Oral Contraceptive Pill

Pharmac is consulting on funding a new progestogen-only oral contraceptive pill called desogestrel (branded as Cerazette) from 1 April 2025.

A range of oral contraceptive pills are currently available in New Zealand and funding desogestrel would provide another option for people to help prevent pregnancy.

Pharmac’s Clinical Lead–Medicines Management, Melissa Copland, says about 43,000 people are expected to benefit from desogestrel in the first full year of funding.

“We understand having desogestrel available might better suit the needs of people who don’t want to or can’t take a contraceptive pill containing oestrogen. It can also be used by people who are breastfeeding.”

Desogestrel is a tablet, taken at about the same time every day. It helps prevents pregnancy when taken within a 12 hour window each day, which is a wider window than other funded progestogen-only pills, which is 3 hours.

It would be funded without any eligibility criteria so it could be prescribed for any relevant use and be available on a six month prescription like other contraceptives.

“We’re consulting to see what people think of our proposal and how people would like to see this rolled out. We’re interested to hear what information people would like to have for when they talk to their health care professional about their contraception options, or what resources prescribers would find useful.”

Public consultation on the funding proposal is now open and will close on 18 February. More information, including how to provide feedback, is on Pharmac’s website.

Pharmac can consider widening access to these medicines following the Government’s $604 million medicine budget increase in June 2024. Since receiving the additional funding, Pharmac has funded 38 medicines for different health conditions and is currently considering 19 more, including the medicine in this proposal.

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