PBAC considers PBS access to triptorelin for women’s health

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) will hold a special meeting to consider changing a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) listing for triptorelin to also include several women’s health conditions.
 
The committee has convened an out-of-session meeting for 30 July to consider a request to change the listing of the triptorelin 3.75 mg intramuscular injection, following a ‘significant number of clinical and consumer inputs from a range of organisations and individuals’.
 
A gonadotrophin releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa), the triptorelin 3.75mg injection (sold as Diphereline) is currently PBS-listed to treat hormone-dependent locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer.
 
It is also used to treat several women’s health conditions, primarily breast cancer, endometriosis and fibroids, but is not PBS listed for these.
 
Without PBS listing, triptorelin costs up to $264 for one monthly injection.
 
RACGP NSW&ACT Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman believes the special meeting may come after AstraZeneca announced it would pull its low-dose Zoladex from the Australian market in November.
 
‘What it’s done is left patients really fearful that drug companies can do this and can decide to no longer make medications that patients are relying on,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘So, having another medication that’s made by a different manufacturer really gives significant certainty to patients that they’re going to be able to continue treatment.’
 
Earlier this month, AstraZeneca updated its announcement, saying it would provide the Zoladex monthly 3.6 mg implant at no cost from 1 November ‘for patients without suitable treatment pathways’.
 
Dr Hoffman said the original announcement left ‘a lot of people with a very bad taste in their mouth’, prompting a wave of submissions to the PBAC.
 
‘There was a big cry out at that time that women’s health has been ignored or has been seen as of lesser value,’ she said.
 
‘Hopefully this will go a long way towards making the female health market more competitive as well, because if there’s multiple medications on the market that’s available for doctors to choose between, and for patients to choose between, then they should have choice and variety and options about how to manage their medical journeys’.
 
Dr Hoffman said that in a meeting with the Australian Endometriosis Foundation, the RACGP was told of ‘large numbers of patients’ concerned about the impending loss of Zoladex. 
 
‘One of the proposals that we spoke to them about was doing just this; writing to PBAC and saying, “well, what are our other options? You can’t leave us with nothing”,’ she said.
 
Dr Hoffman congratulated the PBAC for taking action.
 
‘This shows that when there is a really important matter and something that’s impacting a significant portion of the population, that politics can move faster, and that these organisations can hold additional meetings and move with haste, and at the same time make sure that they’re still meeting all of their regulatory requirements,’ she said.
 
‘I really would congratulate them for holding an extraordinary meeting about a topic, and really encourage them to do that in future for additional concerns as well.
 
‘These things don’t need to take six to 12 months. They can be done in a more timely manner.’
 
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breast cancer Diphereline endometriosis fibroids PBAC PBS Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prostate cancer triptorelin Zoladex