Pharmac knew there would be clinical reasons why some epilepsy patients would not tolerate a change to their medicines but went ahead with a switch that forced more than 10,000 people to change brands of the anti-epileptic drug lamotrigine.
The admission was contained in evidence presented by Pharmac today at the Chief Coroner's Inquest into whether the brand switch had any role in the deaths of six people, who died after changing epilepsy medication.
The inquest also heard from an international expert with 25 years experience in tackling epilepsy deaths - who says changing brands of medication is a known risk factor in epilepsy fatalities.
Guyon Espiner was there and tells Checkpoint savings were at the root of Pharmac's decision to make the switch.
