Cancer breakthrough offers hope, but Australia’s drug wait looms
A new class of pancreatic cancer drugs is raising hopes overseas, but Australia's subsidy process takes a median 22 months. Patients such as Sydney mother Danielle Ozolins, given nine to 12 months to live, say they cannot afford to wait.
A cancer breakthrough offers hope to pancreatic patients worldwide, but Australia's median 22-month wait to list new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) could leave it out of reach for people who do not have that long.
Danielle Ozolins, a 50-year-old Sydney mother of two, was given nine to 12 months to live after a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis. An experimental treatment has given her another year.
"We don't have two years," she said. "You know that drugs are available that could potentially give you a lot more time, but you cannot access them." She called the situation "inhumane".
A new class of drugs
Pancreatic cancer has long been among the deadliest common cancers. Its five-year survival rate is 14 per cent, and almost two-thirds of Australians diagnosed die within 12 months. Only 22 per cent survive two years.
A new class of drugs has now generated excitement among researchers. More than 80 companies are developing treatments that target the RAS pathway, a system of signals that tells cells when to grow and divide. When it is faulty, it can drive cancer growth.
Medical oncologist Michael Lee said early trial results suggest the emerging treatment could substantially extend survival compared with conventional chemotherapy. It could also give patients a better quality of life, because chemotherapy can leave them debilitated by severe side effects.
The drug has not yet been submitted for Australian approval.
Cost and the funding question
Its anticipated price tag could exceed $400,000 per patient. Dr Lee pointed to melanoma, where immunotherapy has transformed the outlook at a cost to government of about half a billion dollars a year. A decade ago, patients with metastatic melanoma often died within a year. Today more than half can survive 10 years, he said.
Pancreatic cancer treatments might extend survival by months rather than years, which makes the economic case harder.
"The healthcare dollars do only stretch so far ... (the government) has to cut the line somewhere," Dr Lee said. "Unfortunately for pancreatic cancer, it lands on the wrong side of the fence."
Patients' view
Michelle Stewart, chief executive of Pankind Pancreatic Cancer Australia, said treatment options have barely changed in three decades. She described the emerging drug as the beginning of a new era, though not a cure.
She fears the existing system will not move quickly enough once the drug arrives. For patients facing a terminal diagnosis, even a few extra months could mean surviving long enough to benefit from another treatment.
"It's the best of times and the worst of times," Stewart said.
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