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Australians suffering from recurrent melanoma have been offered a huge boost in treatment and financial support by the federal government with a cutting-edge drug added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
While treatments have improved, melanoma remains one of the most common and deadly cancers in Australia.
This latest immunotherapy drug, known as Opdualag, will be included in the PBS from February 1, making it available to about 940 patients across the country at a government-subsidised price.
Health Minister Mark Butler says this new listing will expand options to patients with advanced melanoma that is not responsive to current treatments.
"Now this latest cutting-edge immunotherapy treatment Opdualag will be available for patients who have melanoma that is not able to be removed surgically or has become metastatic. This will give new hope to almost a thousand Australians each year and add a new tool to the growing toolbox of treatments for Australia's national cancer."
Without the government subsidy these same patients could pay about $315,000 per course of Opdualag treatment.
The new therapy combines two drugs to better activate the immune system to attack cancer cells and shrink tumors to help patients live longer.
Tamara Dawson, a stage-four melanoma patient and founder of the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Advocacy Network, says this new treatment option is great news.
"There's been incredible progress in the treatment landscape for both melanoma and skin cancer over the last decade and this is another really important step. And as the Minister said, we really do need more tools in the toolbox. As a stage four patient myself, I understand the importance of the science and the research and the clinical trials and then access to new medicines. I'm really pleased that we're able to advocate for this important medicine."
But just how devastating is a diagnosis of melanoma in Australia?
Associate Professor Robert Zielinski is a senior medical oncologist, and director of the Clinical Trials Unit at Central West Cancer Care Centre, Western Sydney University & Orange Hospital.
He explains why skin cancer is considered by many to be Australia's national cancer.
"Around 17,000 Australians are diagnosed with melanoma every year. An Australian is diagnosed every 30 minutes with melanoma and sadly, tragically, one Australian would die every six hours from melanoma. It's Australia's cancer. It's sort of what it's been labelled given our location, and it's the most common cancer in people under the age of 40. So, it's a very common cancer in the young."
James is a 36-year-old civil project manager in Orange who was diagnosed with advanced melanoma and put under Professor Zielinski's care.
He says he was shocked to be diagnosed with a severe cancer at such a young age.
"Absolute shock because I've been bulletproof, pretty much my whole life. Most people my age don't think that something like that's going to happen and to find it sort of that way. And then I didn't even have time to process it because the registrar left and then it was Rob Zielinski came in and it was, right, this is what we're going to do, this is your treatment. And then it was just this whirlwind for the next six months of just absolute here, there, appointments. I still think that's why I'm a little bit upset now, because I haven't processed it all."
Professor Zielinski says treatment for skin cancer has improved dramatically and where, ten years ago about one-in-10 people diagnosed with advanced melanoma would be alive after five years, it's now closer to one in two patients.
James explains why doctors think he was more vulnerable to the condition.
"So, I think I was at risk of advanced melanoma because of my high freckle count per inch of skin that I've got. Also, ah, the industry that I work in leads me to higher exposure, I guess, more than normal. And obviously Irish and Scottish background, so obviously pale skin."
The addition of Opdualag to the PBS is the latest development in the Albanese government's cheaper medicine policy which has seen a broad expansion of the scheme.
The government says, since the beginning of 2023, Australians have saved more than $240 million after the government lowered the maximum cost of prescription medications listed on the PBS.
Minister Butler says, in a cost-of-living crisis, lowering the cost of medicines will help to save lives.
"We know that almost a million patients each year according to the Bureau of Statistics go without a medicine that their doctor has said is important to their health because they simply can't afford it. So, it's not just good for hip pockets, driving down the price of medicines is also good for the health of Australians."
