Advocates Celebrate PBS Listing of a Rare Breast Cancer Treatment in Federal Budget

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speaks to journalists at a press conference before delivering his 2022 Budget speech at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on March 29, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

The Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) is celebrating the listing of Trodelvy, a treatment for a rare form of breast cancer on the Pharmaceutical Budget Listing (PBS) as part of the 2022/23 Federal Budget.

“For the first time, this drug gives hope to many young women, extending their life expectancy and providing an opportunity to spend precious time with their loved ones,” Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Mar. 29.

The government is expected to invest $183.3 million (US$137.6 million) into the drug which is estimated to save on average, 580 patients $80,000 (US$60,052) per year for the treatment.

The drug has been proven to extend the lives of people with inoperable or incurable breast cancer.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved Trodelvy for use in adults with inoperable locally advanced [in cancer progression] or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have received two or more prior therapies on Sep. 14, 2021.

“Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer is more aggressive than other breast cancers and has poorer outcomes. Trodelvy has the potential to give those with this disease precious extra time with those they love,” said Vicki Durston, BCNA’s Director of Policy, Advocacy and Member Support.

Triple-negative breast cancers are hard to treat because they are missing three common receptors of breast cancer, therefore usual drugs to treat breast cancers will not work as there are no receptors to act on.

Metastases are known to be responsible for 90 percent of deaths from cancer and are cancer cells that have spread from their primary location to another location and are generally more resistant to treatment.

Metastases can also cause further tumours in other organs, requiring further treatment whilst consuming the body’s nutrients and energy.

Trodelvy is an immune targeted therapy and in studies on metastasising triple-negative female patients, has been shown to improve survival by an average of 6 months by halting disease progression, with an overall average of 12 months of survival.

The drug is an antibody-drug conjugate; it is made up of an antibody and a chemotherapy drug.

The antibody is an immune system protein and will bind specifically to the Trop2 protein found on cancer cells, the cancer cell will then take up the drug, which will limit the cell’s growth and cause it to self-destruct.

By targeting a cancer cell-specific receptor, Trodelvy limits damage to healthy cells, whereas traditional chemotherapy cannot discriminate, causing severe side effects in patients.

The PBS listing comes with the government’s package to reduce the cost of living the government will invest $525.3 million over 4 years to lower the PBS safety net threshold so that 2.4 million people will qualify more quickly for free or discounted medication (pdf).

The safety net thresholds will be lowered from $326.4 to $244.8 (US$245 to US$183.8) for concessional patients per year, and from $1,542.1 to $1,457.1 (US$1157.6 to US$1093.8) for general patients per year.