Cheaper medicine is avaliable for more than 500,000 patients, with price reductions for common scripts and new medicines added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), the Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan said.
“In some cases this will save over $100,000 per patient,”
“Medicines to treat lung cancer, lymphoblastic and acute leukaemia, and nausea associated with chemotherapy are now available to patients on the PBS for just $40.30 per script, or $6.50 with a concession card,”
“These latest listings will help Australians in poor health when they need it most.”
“Price reductions put more money back in Australian’s pockets. Patients will save and taxpayers will save.”
The new or extending PBS listings include:
- Tecentriq® and Avastin®, will be extended on the PBS to include first line treatment of patients with stage IV metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Without PBS subsidy it would cost patients more than $11,400 per script (around 16 scripts per course of treatment); or more than $189,100 per course of treatment. An average of 755 patients per year (for six years) could benefit from this listing.
- Besponsa®, will be extended on the PBS to include patients with relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome positive B-ALL. Without PBS subsidy, patients would pay more than $44,500 per script (around 3 scripts per course of treatment); or more than $122,900 per course of treatment without subsidised access through the PBS. An average of 16 patients per year (for six years) could benefit from this listing.
- Blincyto®, will be extended on the PBS to include patients with relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome positive B-ALL. Without PBS subsidy, patients would pay more than more than $74,900 per script (around 2 scripts per course of treatment); or more than $122,900 per course of treatment. An average of 16 patients per year (for six years) could benefit from this listing.
- Aprepitant Apotex®, will be made available through the PBS for the treatment of patients with Nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. Without PBS subsidy, patients would pay more than $80 per script (around 1 script per course of treatment). In 2018, 7,269 patients accessed a comparable treatment for this condition.
Fifteen common medicines – sold as 175 medicine brands will be cheaper for general (non-concessional) patients, and these include:
- Pregabalin: around 208,000 patients per year who have seizures or nerve pain will now pay $28.27 per script for 75 mg capsules, a saving of up to $5.11 per script.
- Ezetimibe: around 60,000 patients per year with high cholesterol levels will now pay $33.86 per script for 10 mg tablets, a saving of up to $6.44 per script.
- Ezetimibe with Simvastatin: about 245,000 patients with high cholesterol levels will now pay $37.77 per script for 10 mg tablets, a saving of up to $2.53 per script.
All of these PBS listings were recommended by the independent expert Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.
Since 2013, the Government has listed over 2,100 new or amended items on the PBS. This represents an average of around 30 listings per month – or one each day – at an overall cost of around $10.6 billion.
