Pharmacy Daily | New PBS listings, TGA meds update

NOW in effect as of 01 Mar, new medicines on the PBS include AbbVie's Skyrizi (risankizumab) for severe psoriatic arthritis and Roche's Vabysmo (faricimab) for macular oedema secondary to retinal vein occlusion.

With Skyrizi already PBS listed for adults with severe chronic plaque psoriasis, AbbVie has welcomed its listing for severe psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in adults.

It works by inhibiting the interleukin-23 cytokine, which can help reduce the inflammation responsible for the stiffness, swelling and pain in and around the joints caused by PsA.

Skyrizi is administered via a pre-filled pen, with patients requiring four doses per year after two initial starter doses.

Melbourne-based rheumatology professor Andrew Ostor pointed to the importance of having a range of therapeutics for PsA with differing mechanisms of action and modes of administration, as each patient has unique needs and responds differently to treatment.

"Having another option available on the PBS for severe psoriatic arthritis is great news for patients and doctors," Professor Oster said.

Around 20,000 Australians have macular oedema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO), which is where a blockage in a retinal vein leads to fluid build-up in the macula, and could potentially benefit from the listing ofVabysmo.

The drug was already PBS-listed for wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular oedema, and Dr Hemal Mehta, a Sydney ophthalmologist involved in clinical trials with Vabysmo, welcomed the new subsidy for RVO "at a time when rates of retinal and macular disease are on the rise".

MEANWHILE, Sanofi has announced the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) listing of Dupixent (dupilimab) for uncontrolled chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adult patients.

The drug was already registered for the treatment of severe atopic dermatitis and a severe form of asthma, and is the first biological therapy for COPD.

It comes as a prefilled device that contains dupilumab 300mg for subcutaneous injection every two weeks.

"Dupilumab acts to address the underlying cause of inflammation in these patients, thereby delaying disease progression," said respiratory specialist Professor Philip Bardin of Monash University.

"Despite the widespread use of inhaled medications for COPD, this complex inflammatory airways disease remains one of the leading cause of preventable hospital admissions in Australia," he continued.

"Belonging to the first new class of treatment for COPD in more than a decade, dupilumab has the potential to change the way a severe form of this debilitating disease is managed."