Cancer drugs not on the PBS – IMJ article

Researchers from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute caused a stir this week when their paper, published in the Internal Medicine Journal, suggested that 43% of cancer treatment regimes used in their hospital were not included in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Access to anti-cancer drugs : many evidence-based treatments are off-label and unfunded by the PBS, by James D. Mellor et al explains that this is due to the drugs not being approved for these particular uses by the TGA, despite the drugs being supported by established treatment guidelines and published research.  The drugs may be approved for use in different ways, but in these instances they are unapproved and therefore not listed on the PBS.   The authors suggest that this is probably because the drug companies are not obliged to go through the costly process of re-submitting an already-approved drug to the TGA to get further approval for a different use.  “This results in a marked inequality of access to appropriate medications for cancer patients across Australia.”

Internal Medicine Journal.  Accepted online article - DOI: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2012.02751.x Please contact your library for the full text of this article.