Diabetes breakthrough part of A$70 million PBS medicines listings in Australia

As many as 20,000 Australians living with type 2 diabetes will find it easier and cheaper to manage their condition every day thanks to the Turnbull Government subsidizing another A$70 million ($53.8 million) round of new revolutionary medicines that will also help save the lives of women with advanced cervical cancer.

Minister for Health Sussan Ley announced the September 1 2016 listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), which take the Coalition government’s total investment in listing new medicines to A$4.5 billion since coming to office.

Ms Ley said the listing of revolutionary new diabetes treatment exenatide (Bydureon, from Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca [LSE: AZN]) would see patients only having to inject themselves once a week, rather than twice a day, meaning they will avoid up to 13 injections per week. Patients will also save over $1600 per year, she said.

The Health Minister has trumpeted the PBS listing of AstraZeneca's once weekly diabetes medicine Bydureon but failed to mention the five-year journey it had to get there, commented the local news source Pharma in focus.

“As one of our most prominent chronic diseases, type 2 diabetes is placing a significant cost on the nation’s health and finances at nearly A$1 billion per year,” Ms Ley said, adding: “According to Diabetes Australia there were about 4000 amputations last year that could have avoided with better daily management of a patient’s condition. Our hospitals also saw over 900,000 diabetes-related admissions.

Linagliptin (Trajenta) and linagliptin with metformin (Trajentamet), from Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, as well as vildagliptin (Galvus) and vildagliptin with metformin (Galvumet), from Novartis (NOVN: VX) for use in triple oral therapy, will also be made available under the new September listings, providing patients with additional treatment options for type 2 diabetes .

Ms Ley said in further good news for taxpayers, these new diabetes treatments were all expected to be cost neutral as they were an alternative to existing treatments – demonstrating the Coalition’s commitment to also ensuring medicines on the PBS are kept as up-to-date as possible.

“Expensive” Avastin continued to be listed for cervical cancer