24 September 2021
D Smith
Via email: [FYI request #16312 email]
Dear D Smith
Request for information: Correspondence about Dexcom continuous glucose
monitors, Tandem t:slim X2 insulin pumps, and the Dexcom Inc acquisition
Thank you for your request dated 5 August 2021 under the Official Information Act 1982
(OIA) for information relating to correspondence between Pharmac and NZMS. You
requested:
All correspondence (including emails, phone records, meeting minutes and sent from
and to NZMS Diabetes or NZMS relating to the Dexcom G6, Dexcom G5, Tandem
Tslim X2 insulin pump or the acquisition by Dexcom Inc. received since January 14th
2021.
Please provide all information you hold directly relating to the upcoming meeting of
the Diabetes Subcommittee mentioned in this OIA release
https://pharmac.govt.nz/about/what-we-do/accountability-information/official-
information-act/2021-oia-responses/19-march-2021-oia-response-dexcom-
continuous-glucose-monitors-tandem-insulin-pump-documents-and-emails/
Further to our correspondence to you on 31 August 2021, and as required by the OIA, we
wish to advise you of the outcome of your request for information made on 5 August 2021.
Correspondence between Pharmac and NZMS
We have decided to grant your request for correspondence from 14 January 2021 to the date
of your request (5 August 2021), sent from and to NZMS Diabetes and/or NZMS relating to
the Dexcom G6, Dexcom G5, Tandem Tslim X2 insulin pump or the acquisition by Dexcom
Inc.
Please note, we require additional time to prepare this information for release. We will
provide you with a combined copy of correspondence in scope of your request as soon as
possible, and without undue delay. We expect to be able to provide you with this information
by no later than Friday 22 October 2021.
Additionally, we approach our assessment of requests for information under the OIA on the
basis that once we release the information to you it becomes available to any other party in
that exact form (whether by you distributing it to others or by virtue of us receiving the same
request from a different third party).
2021-22-016; A1529410
Because of this, we have decided to redact a small amount of information, or withhold some
correspondence, from the document to be provided as we consider this is necessary to:
protect the privacy of natural persons (section 9(2)(a));
protect information where the making available of the information would be likely to
unreasonably prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the
subject of the information (section 9(2)(b)(ii));
protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which any person
has been or could be compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where
the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar
information, or information from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such
information should continue to be supplied (section 9(2)(ba)(i));
enable Pharmac to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations, including
commercial negotiations (section 9(2)(j)).
Documents for the upcoming Diabetes Subcommittee meeting
The Diabetes Subcommittee is scheduled to meet on Friday 24 September 2021. We are
open to considering the release of information prepared for our clinical advice meetings
however, as the Diabetes Subcommittee meeting has not yet taken place, we consider it
necessary to withhold currently held information to protect the confidentiality of advice
tendered by Pharmac officials to the Subcommittee (section 9(f)(iv) of the OIA).
We welcome a new request for information regarding documents for the Diabetes
Subcommittee meeting after the meeting has taken place. Please note, the record of the
Diabetes Subcommittee meeting will be made publicly available once it has been reviewed
and approved by the Subcommittee members.
As required under the OIA, for information withheld under section 9 of the Act, we also
considered whether the withholding of this information was outweighed by other
considerations which render it desirable, in the public interest, to make this information
available. In this case we did not consider that the public interest outweighed the reasons for
withholding the information.
Please note you have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(3) of the OIA to an
Ombudsman, to seek an investigation and review of our decision.
We trust that this information answers your queries. We are making our information more
freely available, so we now publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on
our website. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this.
Yours sincerely
Rachel Read
Manager, Policy and Government Services
2021-22-016; A1529410
qA59802
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