New Drug to Help Prevent Heart Attacks Subsidised for Patients
A new drug that can help prevent heart attacks and will benefit more than 60,000 Australians is to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) at a cost of more than $100 million over five years.
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21 February 2012
A new drug that can help prevent heart attacks and will benefit more than 60,000 Australians is to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) at a cost of more than $100 million over five years.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the drug, Ticagrelor (Brilinta®), was an important treatment for myocardial infarction or unstable angina and could prevent heart attacks and blood clots.
“The listing of this drug on the PBS provides Australians with subsidised access to one of the latest treatments for cardiovascular disease,” Minister Plibersek said
Ms Plibersek said cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death in Australia.
“New medicines like this one, combined with a greater emphasis on prevention and advances in medical research have significantly reduced the mortality rate from heart attacks.”
Along with Ticagrelor, Australians will benefit from subsidised access to eight other medicines to be listed on the PBS in the coming months including treatments for leukaemia, juvenile arthritis, and high blood pressure.
The combined cost of the new medicines and additional Medicare Benefits Schedule items is $141 million over five years.
“The PBS listings are subject to final arrangements being met by the suppliers of the medicines before they can be listed.”
Ms Plibersek said nearly 10,000 children with bacterial infections such as bronchitis, pneumonia, tonsillitis and skin infections would benefit from the listing of a syrup form of the antibiotic Cefuroxime axetil (Zinnat®) on the PBS.
“Parents of sick children who struggle to swallow tablets will now have access through the PBS to this subsidised antibiotic.”
This product has been developed by GlaxoSmithKline in response to a request by the Government’s Paediatric Medicine Advisory Group which identified a need for this formulation to better support the care of sick children.
The Government is also extending the listing of Tocilizumab (Actemra®) for the treatment of severe active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis in patients under 18 years of age.
Juvenile arthritis affects over 4,600 children in Australia and can significantly impact the quality of life of children affected by the disease.
Ms Plibersek said she also was pleased to announce the listing of two drugs, Dasatinib (Sprycel®) and Nilotinib (Tasigna®) for the first-line treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia.
“This decision will benefit over 300 patients, who would otherwise have to pay $30,000 a year to access these drugs,” she said.
The announcement to list a new form of Abatacept (Orencia®) will benefit patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis.
“This listing means that 450 patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis will no longer need to visit a clinic to receive the medication intravenously as they will now be able to self-administer as an injection.
Other additions or extensions to the PBS include:
- Dalteparin sodium (Fragmin®) – for the treatment of patients undergoing haemodialysis.
- Epoprostenol sodium (Flolan®) – for the treatment of patients with blood pressure issues.
- Morphine sulphate (Kapanol®) - for the treatment of chronic severe disabling pain in patients not responding to non-narcotic analgesics.
The price increases will have no impact on concessional patients which constitute around 80% of PBS prescriptions. The maximum amount they will pay for their prescriptions is $5.80. No general patient will pay more than $35.40 for any PBS-listed medicine.
A full list of the price increases is available on the PBS website.
For more information, contact the Minister’s Office on 02 6277 7220
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