Promising signs for patients desperately waiting for life saving drugs

The Government's due to make a Pharmac funding announcement - that could bump up its medicines budget 40 percent.

Breast Cancer Foundation chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner says if confirmed, it will bring hope to breast cancer patients - whose drugs were left out of the 13 cancer drugs initially promised.

She says those on the waitlist know their drugs have been approved - but it can sometimes take between six and eight years for them to become available.

She says some patients may die waiting for the drugs to reach them - or suffer life changing consequences.