Price of lupus drug decreases significantly after being listed on pharmaceutical benefits scheme
For thousands of patients, the cost of some vital medicines will come down significantly today, after being listed on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. One of those is for a drug used to treat one the most common auto-immune diseases in the world, with nine out of ten patients being women, and rates especially high among first nations and Asian Australians.
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00:00Cancer nurse Sandra Jacobs still remembers the feeling of dread when she was diagnosed
00:07with the organ-damaging disease lupus around 20 years ago.
00:11I was actually looking after a patient who was in her mid-40s with multiple organ failure.
00:16It was quite emotional for me because all I could see myself was that person in my 40s.
00:24Lupus, or SLE, is an autoimmune disease that affects around 1 in 1,300 Australians.
00:30And researchers here at the Monash University labs are always investigating new ways
00:36of being able to treat this condition for those who don't respond to conventional therapies.
00:42It's very common in women. It's also much more common in First Nations Australians and in Asian Australians.
00:48Professor Morand led the global final stage trials of a new drug
00:52and is pleased it's now been listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme.
00:56It's really hard to overstate how important this is.
00:59We haven't had any novel therapy approved for lupus for 60 years.
01:04The drug was priced at around $1,500 a month.
01:08That's now reduced to around $36 or just under $8 for concession card holders.
01:14So this drug works by blocking a protein called interferon,
01:17which is very important in causing the inflammation of lupus.
01:21I think this is incredibly important for the recognition of this condition.
01:24We know that if you are a woman you are much more likely to have an autoimmune disease generally.
01:30A financial burden removed for those already walking a hard path.
01:34People are struggling to make ends meet and if something as important as your health could cost less,
01:41I think that's a huge benefit.
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