Pharmac’s main advisory committee, the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC), met on 11-12 November 2026 to discuss the latest applications for new medicines to be funded in Aotearoa New Zealand.
On the list for discussion was zolmitriptan for the treatment of migraine attacks. This has come about after Pharmac proposed to decline and remove the original zolmitriptan application in December 2023 – which had been waiting for a decision since 2007. Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand (and one other organisation) put in a submission objecting to this and in July 2024, Pharmac decided to keep the zolmitriptan application active.
In June-July of 2025 we did a survey looking at the need for more treatment options for migraine attacks and the people spoke clearly. Two thirds of survey respondents wanted to try another type of triptan, not surprising as we only have two triptans in Aotearoa (sumatriptan and rizatriptan) whereas up to seven are available elsewhere in the world. Because all the triptans work a little bit differently, one of them could work for you when another one doesn’t, so we need more choice.
So, it’s exciting to see that a new application for zolmitriptan is being considered, particularly as zolmitriptan can be used as a nasal spray as well as a tablet, and nasal sprays are very useful for when the nausea and vomiting from a migraine attack prevents tablets from being absorbed in the stomach.
We will wait and see – we may get a provisional recommendation from PTAC by December. Best case scenario, they recommend zolmitriptan is funded at a high priority, and it gets onto Pharmac’s Options for Investment list. Then we have to wait and see how long it will take for this to get into the funded medicines category. One small step at a time…
