Triptorelin PBS expansion offers alternative treatment option

From 1 October, triptorelin 3.75 mg (sold as Diphereline) will be available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for the treatment of a range of women’s health conditions, including breast cancer, endometriosis and uterine fibrosis.
 
The announcement comes ahead of the scheduled delisting from the PBS of the low-dose goserelin (sold as Zoladex), which is used to treat the same conditions, from 1 November.
 
Women with breast cancer were left facing uncertainty around their treatment options following AstraZeneca’s announcement earlier this year that it will pull the goserelin 3.6 mg implant from the Australian market.
 
Breast Cancer Network Australia Director of Policy and Advocacy, Vicki Durston, said the announcement provides welcome relief to women, labelling it an ‘incredibly important’ moment.
 
‘This is certainly an important day in what has been a confusing and very uncertain period for the last four months,’ she said.
 
‘When AstraZeneca announced that monthly Zoladex would be discontinued in Australia, the concern was very real, and at that point, there was no confirmed monthly alternative on the PBS.
 
‘Imagine you’re a woman relying on this treatment, you’re thinking, “what happens to my treatment now? Will my cancer progress? Will my cancer start growing?”. No woman should be left fearing what happens next.’
 
For Katie-Marie Thorpe, who has metastatic breast cancer, the decision means ‘women have been given some of that control back’.
 
‘In June this year, thousands of women woke up to the headline saying that Zoladex 3.6 mg would be delisted from the PBS and the Australian market with no viable alternative,’ she said.
 
‘There had been no warning from our oncologists or treating teams, no clear official communication telling us what would happen next, we simply woke up to a headline, read the news, and if you were like me, thought, “hang on, that’s my medication keeping me alive”.
 
‘Commercial decisions will happen and governments may not always be able to prevent them, but our health system can decide what happens next – patients should not be the ones left to carry the burden while decisions around them are made.’
 
Triptorelin is currently PBS-listed to treat hormone-dependent locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer.
 
Following a July special meeting to discuss the proposal, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) backed the expansion of triptorelin’s 3.75 mg intramuscular injection PBS listing, being made unrestricted.
 
In 2025, around 13,580 Australians accessed Zoladex 3.6 mg implant or a comparable treatment on the PBS. Zoladex’s upcoming removal from Australian shelves left many women questioning what treatment options are available to them.
 
The PBAC said the cost effectiveness of triptorelin 3.75 mg for a broader population will be ‘acceptable if it were cost minimised against goserelin 3.6 mg subcutaneous implant (SCI)’.
 
‘The PBAC considered that goserelin 3.6 mg SCI was an appropriate comparator,’ it said. 
 
A script for triptorelin without PBS subsidy can cost patients more than $1370. The expanded PBS listing means Triptorelin will be available as an alternative monthly treatment at less than $25 per script.
 
Federal Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler said Zoladex’s removal from shelves had caused ‘enormous anxiety among many thousands of Australian women’.
 
‘Over the last few months, we’ve been working together to find a solution to this,’ he said.
 
‘We’ve been working together to do what we can to ensure security and affordability of an alternative treatment.
 
‘We scanned the rest of the world and found there is an equivalent treatment.’
 
AstraZeneca will continue to provide the Zoladex implant at no cost in Australia from 1 November for patients without suitable treatment pathways.
 
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breast cancer Diphereline endometriosis PBAC PBS Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee triptorelin women’s health