Ocrevus and Kesimpta are used by 13,000 Australians
Federal MP Monique Ryan has urged the Albanese government to guarantee that two key multiple sclerosis medicines will stay on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme without any break in access.
The call centres on Ocrevus, also known as ocrelizumab, and Kesimpta, also known as ofatumumab. Discussions involving the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, Roche and Novartis raised the risk that both drugs could be removed from the PBS after the sides failed to agree on price cuts.
About 13,000 Australians with MS use the two medicines. That includes roughly 8,000 people receiving six-monthly Ocrevus infusions and 5,000 using monthly self-injected Kesimpta.
Together they cover close to half of the treated MS population, making the pricing dispute a major concern for patients and clinicians.
Health Minister Mark Butler has indicated that he wants both treatments to remain on the PBS. However, Ryan argued that patients need a firm assurance now, regardless of how the pricing negotiations end.
“It’s good to hear Minister Butler say he wants these drugs to stay listed, but thousands of Australians with MS have spent the past fortnight worrying about whether the treatments that keep them well will still be there for them next month,” Ryan said.
Ryan’s office has received a large volume of messages from Kooyong constituents and from people with MS across Australia as the dispute has unfolded.
Taylor Mills backs Ocrevus access
One of those patients is Taylor Mills, a Kooyong resident and paediatric neuropsychology registrar at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Mills was diagnosed with MS at 21.
According to Ryan’s office, Ocrevus helped Mills complete her PhD, build her career treating some of Victoria’s sickest children and plan a future with her fiance after earlier treatments failed to control her disease.
Ryan has also pointed to broader problems in the way PBS comparator and pricing rules work. Butler has acknowledged the need for reform, and a review announced in September is still considering recommendations.
“This isn’t the first time PBS pricing settings have collided with patient needs this year. It won’t be the last unless the rules are fixed,” Ryan said.
She supports changes to comparator pricing, but argues that patients should not lose access to treatment while healthcare reforms move slowly.
Ryan is pressing the government to confirm without delay that Ocrevus and Kesimpta will remain PBS-listed, so no patient is forced into an unplanned treatment change. She also wants the Health Technology Assessment review reforms accelerated to stop the same problem hitting other high-cost medicines.
