For thousands of patients, the cost of some vital medicines will come down significantly today, after being listed on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. One of those is for a drug used to treat one the most common auto-immune diseases in the world, with nine out of ten patients being women, and rates especially high among first nations and Asian Australians.
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00:00Cancer nurse Sandra Jacobs still remembers the feeling of dread when she was diagnosed
00:07with the organ-damaging disease lupus around 20 years ago.
00:11I was actually looking after a patient who was in her mid-40s with multiple organ failure.
00:16It was quite emotional for me because all I could see myself was that person in my 40s.
00:24Lupus, or SLE, is an autoimmune disease that affects around 1 in 1,300 Australians.
00:30And researchers here at the Monash University labs are always investigating new ways
00:36of being able to treat this condition for those who don't respond to conventional therapies.
00:42It's very common in women. It's also much more common in First Nations Australians and in Asian Australians.
00:48Professor Morand led the global final stage trials of a new drug
00:52and is pleased it's now been listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme.
00:56It's really hard to overstate how important this is.
00:59We haven't had any novel therapy approved for lupus for 60 years.
01:04The drug was priced at around $1,500 a month.
01:08That's now reduced to around $36 or just under $8 for concession card holders.
01:14So this drug works by blocking a protein called interferon,
01:17which is very important in causing the inflammation of lupus.
01:21I think this is incredibly important for the recognition of this condition.
01:24We know that if you are a woman you are much more likely to have an autoimmune disease generally.
01:30A financial burden removed for those already walking a hard path.
01:34People are struggling to make ends meet and if something as important as your health could cost less,
01:41I think that's a huge benefit.
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