Cancer drug cost slashed

PATIENTS with a form of Hodgkin lymphoma will have the cost of a breakthrough drug slashed by thousands from next month.

Keytruda would have cost $200,000 for each course of treatment but the federal government’s move to list it on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme means patients won’t pay more than $39.50 a script.

Concession patients will pay $6.40.

The immunotheraphy drug helps the body use its own immune system to fight the cancer. It’s estimated the change will help more than 120 Australians a year.

“A drug that was out of the reach of virtually every Australian will now be in the reach of virtually every Australian,” said Health Minister Greg Hunt.

The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre’s Dr Michael Dickinson says the listing will help patients whose cancer remains or has spread despite existing treatments.