Camilla Cox, a local member of Patient Voice Aotearoa, said the funding equated to a rise of only 1.4% a year, meaning it would only keep pace with inflation.
A nationwide "Lie Down for Life" protest, organised by Patient Voice and held on May 12, called for the immediate doubling of Pharmac’s $1 billion budget.
"Pharmac itself had said it needed a further $438 million per year to fund the 73 drugs already approved on its wish list," Ms Cox said.
"So the magnitude of this increase was extremely disappointing - it sentences us to health poverty."
She was also very unhappy that Patient Voice Aotearoa had been accused of "extremist rhetoric" for pointing out the level of Pharmac funding would result in preventable deaths.
Ms Cox said research from Medicines New Zealand had shown the country fared poorly in terms of per-capita medicine spending compared with other OECD countries.
By comparison, Australia had just announced a $A43 billion ($NZ46 billion) funding boost over four years to improve access to medicines for its citizens.
Even with the funding increase, the spend per person would equate to about $200, for both medicine and medical equipment, Ms Cox said.
While Pharmac was effective at negotiating good prices for medicines, it simply did not have enough funds to access some of the newer, very effective immune therapy drugs for cancer and conditions such as cystic fibrosis.
"We are talking about really effective medicines here, which can save lives," Ms Cox said.
"For patients and their families, it it soul-destroying to know that there is an effective treatment out there, but that it is out of reach."
Some families were now considering migrating to Australia to have greater access to medicines.
"We are not going to stop fighting on this issue - it is too important.
"We are going to lobby at a local level while we plan a national campaign," Ms Cox said.
