THE Federal Government has announced PBS funding for another hepatitis C medication, with Epclusa to be added to the scheme effective from 01 August.
Apclusa is the first of the new direct acting antivirals that can be used to treat people with any genotype of the ailment, making it simpler for doctors to prescribe and likely to boost uptake rates, particularly for rural and regional patients.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said 800 Australians died from hepatitis C each year, "and our investment in this drug is aimed at reversing this unacceptable statistic".
He said the government had allocated more than $1 billion to fund the new hepatitis C medicines over the next five years, and since the first of the drugs became available in Mar 2016 over 42,000 people had received a PBS-subsidised medicine to treat the disease.
Hepatitis B is also being targeted, with vaccination of all infants through the National Immunisation Program and free catch-up vaccines for 10-19 year olds from 01 Jul 2017.
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