Neffy added to PBS

The adrenaline nasal spray Neffy will be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 July, following its approval in December by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
 
The needle-free emergency treatment for type 1 allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, will soon be more affordable for children over four years and 15 kilograms, and in adults at significant risk of anaphylaxis, with existing scripts for adrenaline.
 
Without the PBS subsidy, a pack of two single-dose 1 mg or 2 mg sprays can cost more than $95.
 
Dr Nick Cooling, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Allergy, told newsGP Neffy is ‘the biggest thing that’s changed in adrenaline in the last 20 years’.
 
‘It is going to be a game changer,’ he said.
 
‘It’s such a good device, we won’t be doing injections anymore. Most patients from the age of four will be having this.
 
‘For our existing patients, not a problem, GPs will just be giving Neffy when they roll up, because they’ve already got a script for their previous adrenaline.’
 
The addition comes as hospital presentations and admissions for anaphylaxis increased by 51% and 35% respectively between 2015 and 2020, according to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
 
Neffy will enable people to give adrenaline to themselves earlier and ‘in a much more comfortable way’, said Dr Cooling.
 
‘It gives patients empowerment to control their allergies, and people really want these devices because they want to feel safe, and they want to have it in their pocket,’ he said.
 
‘Particularly for children, it’s helping parents feel much more confident to give this life-saving treatment.’
 
Neffy is one of 10 new medications being added to the PBS from July in what the Federal Government describes as a ‘bumper month for cheaper medicines’:

• Tezepelumab (sold as Tezspire) – to treat patients aged 12 years and older whose severe uncontrolled asthma causes a buildup of white blood cells or an immune system overreaction to allergens
• Somapacitan (sold as Sogroya) – to treat children with growth hormone deficiency
• Insulin degludec (sold as Tresiba Penfill) – to treat patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus
• Romidepsin (sold as Romidepsin-Reach) – to treat adults with peripheral T-cell lymphoma
• Rozanolixizumab (sold as Rystiggo) – to treat adults with generalised myasthenia gravis
• Alectinib (sold as Alecensa) – expanded for the treatment of anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
• Pertuzumab (sold as Perjeta) – expanded for the treatment of high-risk human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive early breast cancer
• Osimertinib (sold as Tagrisso) – expanded for the treatment of epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive NSCLC and unresectable stage III NSCLC following chemoradiation
• Futibatinib (sold as Lytgobi) – to treat patients with previously-treated advanced or unresectable cholangiocarcinoma with fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 gene alterations

allergic reaction allergy anaphylaxis nasal spray needle free Neffy Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme