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Elderly
in line to get bone drug subsidy By
Julie Robotham, the Morning Herald Thousands
more elderly people could qualify for subsidised drugs to treat the
bone-thinning disorder osteoporosis under a new push. Advocacy
group Osteoporosis The
group's chief executive, Judy Stenmark, said the drugs would be most
beneficial before a person sustained such an injury, which could have
long-term effects on their mobility and health. Ms
Stenmark said all men and women aged over 65 should be able to have a
Medicare-funded test to establish their bone mineral density if their
doctor recommended them for such a test. Given
their age and the test result, some should then qualify for subsidised
access to the drugs, which otherwise cost about $70 for one month's
treatment. The
chairman of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, Lloyd Sansom,
said the committee acknowledged "intuitively" that it would be
better to prevent bone loss from progressing to disabling injury. The
committee, which recommends which drugs the Federal Government should
subsidise, now only had to be convinced about what criteria should make a
person eligible for an ordinary subsidised script at $23.10, or $3.70 for
a pensioner. He
suggested some combination of low bone density and older age would be an
appropriate way of determining who should receive the drugs, which can cut
fracture risk by half within three to six months of first using them.
Younger people would probably not qualify even if their bone density was
low, because they were not at risk of injury from falls. Professor
Sansom said the drugs' manufacturers would have to show they were
cost-effective for prevention of a first fracture. It
was relatively easy to demonstrate the benefit of treating people with a
previous fracture because they were at substantially greater risk of
breaking more bones, he said. But it was harder to determine what degree
of bone-thinning warranted treatment in someone who had not had a
fracture. Professor
Sansom said the committee would meet specialist doctors in November to try
to come up with a formula. The
committee rejected an application for PBS listing by Merck Sharp &
Dohme, the maker of Fosamax, because it was not satisfied that the
economic benefits projected by the company would materialise. The company
said it would continue to negotiate with the government for a wider PBS
listing. Rheumatologist
Professor Philip Sambrook, of the The disease is estimated to affect up to two million people and to cost $7 billion annually in treatment and indirect costs.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
