An expanded immunotherapy subsidy program is back under federal government consideration, which could save individual Australians hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment.

Cancer researchers in Ballarat are welcoming the news but Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute director George Kannourakis says there is more than one way to tackle access issues.

Melanoma patients are already covered and lung cancer patients can access immunotherapy drugs should their chemotherapy fail.

There remains a gap for patients with other cancers, particularly rare cancers, which Professor Kannourakis said tend to respond well to immunotherapy – but there lacked the trial numbers to springboard on to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.

Instead, Professor Kannourakis suggested the federal government could consider the route other nations have taken, for example subsidising by certain proteins found in tumours rather than a specific group of cancer.

A large portion of FECRI’s internationally recognised work is in targeted immunotherapy, identifying proteins that produce antibodies and how this can activate an individual’s own immune system to fight cancer.

“We’ve been saying immunotherapy is the way to go for a long time,” Professor Kannourakis said. “If Australia could produce more of the drugs locally, perhaps this would be more affordable...Immunotherapy is in discussions at the moment and chemotherapy is still the mainstay but we’re hoping this will become less and less so.”

Ballarat MP and Labor’s federal health spokeswoman Catherine King said the potential of new therapies in cancer treatment was exciting but could only work best if the health system kept up.

“We are seeing a new world of personalised medicine and targeted treatments – and we do need to make sure that our pharmaceutical system keeps pace. After all, we want to encourage innovation and discoveries, and we want patients to be able to benefit from these discoveries,” Ms King said,

“As individualised medicine becomes more common, we will need to rethink the way the system works, and we’d welcome any steps to improve access to these therapies where they are clinically appropriate.”

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE