Competition shrinks Drug discount gives the cost of breakfast cancer victims hope

BREAKFAST is getting cheaper for Aussie households.

From bread and cereal to milk, eggs and fruit, the prices have dropped up to 10 per cent in the past three years amid heavy discounting sparked by foreign competitors such as Aldi expanding in Australia.

Economists and consumer specialists believe that the lower prices are here to stay.

The shrinking cost of breakfast contrasts with Australia’s overall rise in consumer prices of 4.7 per cent since 2014, News Corp Australia’s analysis of Bureau of Statistics inflation data found.

Fruit has had the biggest fall, down 9.9 per cent, while cheese (down 7.7 per cent) and eggs (down 7.4 per cent) are also significantly cheaper. Tea and coffee also cost less now.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said supermarkets were reducing prices amid tough competition. “If you can get people into the supermarket through offering cheap milk and bread, they’re more likely to buy their other items at the same time,” he said. A NEW drug which could drastically extend the life of up to 1700 Australians a year waiting for a cancer cure will be made available at a fraction of the cost from Monday.

The groundbreaking treatment for multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells, is among treatments added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from January 1.

About 550 patients are expected to immediately benefit each year from the subsidised carfilzomib, marketed under the name Kyprolis, which works by reducing the growth of cancer cells and helps boost survival rates for patients.

Normally patients would pay about $138,800 per course of treatment — but the change means they will now pay a maximum of $39.50 for each script, with concessional patients paying just $6.40.

The disease can prevent healthy plasma cells working the way they should, making the bones weaker and leading to the spread of tumours in the bones. It is most common in people aged 60 and older.