Call to End Prescribing Puberty Blockers In NZ

MEDIA RELEASE

30 January 2025

Family First is calling for an immediate end to new prescribing of puberty blockers due to the clear lack of quality probative evidence of efficacy and safety.

It comes at the same time as more than 100 doctors, academics, lawyers, politicians and “detransitioners” are calling for the Albanese government in Australia to launch an immediate inquiry into youth gender medicine and to pause the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for children in Australia.

Family First and its legal representatives met with the Puberty Blocker Consultation Team from the Ministry of Health in January.

Family First has subsequently written to both the PBC Team and Health NZ to reiterate the following points regarding the safety and efficacy requirements under the Medicines Act 1981 (the Medicines Act) and Family First’s concerns about inconsistent standards, stating the following:

“We are aware that these provisions do not apply directly to off-label use of puberty blockers under section 25 of the Medicines Act, but we have been advised that the Medicines Act generally requires proof of safety and efficacy before allowing the sale and supply of new medications for specific indications in New Zealand.

“Throughout the Medicines Act, there are strict conditions relating to safety and efficacy both for a medicine to first obtain consent to be used in New Zealand and secondly for it to be removed from the market if concerns arise about its safety and efficacy, including the following:

  1. Applications for the Minister’s consent under section 20 of the Medicines Act require evidence to be provided, under section 21(2), of both the safety and efficacy of the medicine.
  2. Section 35 enables the Minister to revoke or suspend a consent under sections 20 or 23 if he is of the opinion that either the medicine can no longer be administered or used safely or that the efficacy of the medicine can no longer be regarded as satisfactory.
  3. Section 36 enables the Director-General to give notice and require an importer or manufacturer to satisfy him of the “safety or efficacy of that medicine” if he “has reason to believe that any medicine, not being a new medicine, may be unsafe or ineffective for the therapeutic purpose for which is it sold”. This process can also then lead to a notice from the Minister prohibiting the sale or supply of the medicine under section 36(3)(a).
  4. Even a change in an existing approved medicine can be referred to the Minister for consideration, under section 24(5), if the Director-General considers that despite the evidence supplied he is insufficiently informed of the safety or efficacy of the medicine after that change.

“As discussed, we are concerned about the ability of patients to give their informed consent for puberty blockers for Gender Dysmorphia prescribed under section 25 when they have not been proven to be safe, efficacious or reversible for the purposes they are currently being prescribed and used for in New Zealand.

“This is based on the Ministry of Health’s own Position Statement on the Use of Puberty Blockers in Gender-Affirming Care dated 21 November, 2024, following the release of an evidence brief which examined the safety and long-term impacts of puberty blockers when used in the context of gender-affirming care. [View the Impact of Puberty Blockers in Gender-Dysphoric Adolescents: An evidence brief.]

Family First’s position remains that there should be an immediate end to new prescribing of puberty blockers due to the clear lack of quality probative evidence of efficacy and safety. Existing users need to be transitioned from Puberty Blockers in a medically appropriate way or at the very least, have the lack of quality evidence on safety, efficacy and reversibility explained to them with a view to confirming they and their parents or guardians do provide informed consent.  This in turn also means the Ministry’s Position Statement must be updated immediately to remove the factually incorrect statements regarding efficacy, safety, and future risks, including any references to the PATHA Guidelines.”

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