Confirmation from one of Australia's leading clinicians in the treatment of Hepatitis C that thousands of Australians are delaying treatment as they wait for the Government to reimburse the new generation direct acting antivirals.
In a story earlier this week, PharmaDispatch reported on an analysis from market intelligence firm NostraData, backed by data from Medicare, that revealed a significant across the board decline in the use of five PBS listed therapies to treat Hepatitis C.
According to Professor Greg Dore from the Kirby Institute, "Hundreds in my clinic alone" are delaying treatment while the Government and relevant companies negotiate and finalise the PBS listing of the new therapies.
"We would have several hundred, and we were looking at this the other day and coming up with strategies for how we deal with it, and that's just in one major clinic - several hundred who have made the decision, often with us providing advice about this, to sit back and wait for these new therapies because of how effective they are," said Professor Dore.
"Most of those people don't have cirrhosis or very advanced disease, so they can afford to wait, but everyone is sitting there looking to come back in the next few months once they find out what's happened on the PBS question.
"Across the country you're talking tens of thousands of people sitting and waiting for this to happen," he added.
Professor Dore said the PBS listing of the recommended therapies could trigger a large wave of patients to come forward seeking treatment, although he highlighted practical limitations on the number of patients that could be treated in any year.
He welcomed the PBAC's recommendation on the new therapies, which while financially very restrictive has proposed wide patient access and dispensing through community pharmacy. He also backed their recommendation to reassess the PBS listing of current treatments, saying they just do not compare to the new therapies.
The PBAC recommended Gilead's SOVALDI and HARVONI, as well as Bristol-Myers Squibb's DAKLINZA in combination with SOVALDI, at its March meeting. It recommended AbbVie's VIEKIRA PAK and VIEKIRA PAK-RBV in July.
Professor Dore said the combination of SOVALDI and DAKLINZA offered particular benefits because of its coverage for patients living with genotype 1 and 3 of the Hepatitis C virus. He said genotype 3, which represents around 40 per cent of all cases of Hepatitis C in Australia, is generally associated with poorer patient outcomes because the disease generally progresses faster than other gentoypes, making access to the new therapies all the more important.
Professor Dore said he was confident the Government could finalise pricing and listing arrangements, with a listing potentially by the end of the year, and encouraged the relevant companies to adopt a fair approach to the negotiation to ensure patient access consistent with the PBAC recommendation.
Professor Dore highlighted the significant advance offered by the new therapies, detailing their advantages in terms of safety and shorter duration of treatment.
"The moment is fast approaching, when we can turnaround Hepatitis C, changing its future course among hundreds of thousands of Australians, and indeed potentially make it a rare condition in our lifetime," he said.
