Over 15,000 diabetic Australians will receive significant relief from a crucial new form of fast-acting insulin listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from Oct. 1 2023.
The Albanese Government announced the new listing of Fiasp Penfill from Drug sponsor Novo Nordisk which contains the same volume of fast-acting insulin aspart compared to the original Fiasp medication, which is to be removed from the PBS. Fiasp Penfill quickly reduces blood sugar levels and helps to minimise spikes after eating.
It follows 6-months of government negotiations to keep insulin aspart on the PBS. It means diabetic Australians and families pay only $30 (US$19.30) per script compared to $220 per script if it were to be removed. The Department of Health and Aged Care (DHAC) reduced the maximum script amount to $30 from $42 in Jan. 2023, which DHAC Minister Mark Butler said is the “biggest cut to the price of medicine in the 75-year history of the PBS.” Meanwhile, concession card holders will pay just $7 per script.
Mr. Butler said Australians with type 1 diabetes could “breathe a sigh of relief” knowing they “continue to have affordable access to fast-acting insulin.”
Substantially, between 2020 and 2021, over 16.5 million prescriptions were dispensed for diabetes medicines through the PBS, according to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report in June 2023.
Further, type 1 diabetes research and advocacy group Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Australia (JDRF) said that 15,000 people who use insulin to manage diabetes would have been substantially disadvantaged if it was unavailable.
The Fight for Fiasp
JDRF CEO Mike Wilson commended Mr. Butler for “listening to JDRF, the thousands of Australians living with type 1 diabetes and all patient organisations advocating tirelessly for this issue over the last six months. We know how much this news will mean to them.”
JDRF advocate Kellie is a mother to 16-year-old Jenna, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes five years ago. Kellie said this announcement is a “game-changer” for their family.
Meanwhile, Jenna has relied on Fiasp for four years and said it “saves her every single day in ways that seemed impossible when I was first diagnosed. Fiasp guarantees that I can live safely and freely despite the ups and downs of life with type 1 diabetes. The possibility of Fiasp’s absence made me realise just how significant a role it plays in my life.”
Jenna is among most (81 percent) children and young adults aged 10-19 with type-1 diabetes. The type 1 diabetes prevalence rate was around 15 times as high in children and young adults aged 15–19 as those aged 0–4.
Diabetes Australia, the Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association advocated to represent the community’s voice, such as Jenna’s, to the government and Novo Nordisk.
Blood cells and sugar cubes 3D illustration concept: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder caused by high levels of blood sugar; chronic diabetes affects how the body turns food into energy
Diabetes Australia CEO Justine Cain said the illness is a “demanding and complicated condition” that needs constant monitoring. Australians need access to the “best available insulins and medicines, at affordable prices, to have their best quality of life and reduce the impact of diabetes-related complications.”
Diabetes Australia set up a page called Fight for Fiasp, and the diabetes services provider used testimonials to support Novo Nordisk and the Australian Government.
As a result, Novo Nordisk Oceania said the leading global healthcare company heard “loud and clear” the voice of 15,000 Australians living with diabetes who depended on Fiasp.
Novo Nordisk Oceania Corporate Vice President and General Manager Cem Ozenc said he looks forward to continuing a positive, solutions-focused working relationship with DHAC and Mr. Butler “for our future medicines portfolio.”
However, the Liberal Party argued Labor acted too slowly. Mr. Butler was “completely silent” about whether Fiasp users would still have affordable access from Oct. 1 2023, as the extension end date hung over the diabetes community on Sept. 8.
Coalition: Labor Government Kept “15,000 Families in the Dark”
Australia's former Minister for Health Greg Hunt and newly appointed Minister for Health Anne Ruston at Westmead Children’s Hospital on Day 7 of the 2022 federal election campaign in Sydney on April 17, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Health and Aged Care Shadow Minister Anne Ruston said Mr. Butler’s slow reaction created an “unacceptable level of uncertainty for 15,000 Australians and their families who rely on this fast-acting form of insulin.”
“The Minister still needs to explain why he decided not to use his ministerial discretion to ensure Fiasp can remain permanently on the PBS rather than pursuing a band-aid response with the temporary extension,” Ms. Ruston said.
She also argued that Mr. Butler was “forced” into providing significant advocacy from the sector, patients and the Coalition.
“He has even attempted to mislead the diabetes community by falsely indicating that the manufacturer was unwilling to come to the table on a solution and that the Minister has no legal power to intervene,” she said.
Mr. Butler’s announcement comes ten days after the Coalition urged him to provide “immediate certainty to the Type 1 diabetes community about the ongoing availability of this critical drug on the PBS.”
