BY JESSICA ROUSE
It's being labelled as a miracle cancer drug, and now OPDIVO is available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from today for cancer patients in the Hunter and throughout the country.
The drug is based on immuno-oncology medicine which works on the premise the body's most powerful tool for recognising and fighting disease is the immune system.
The Federal Government made the announcement over the weekend which will see the cost of the drug significantly drop and even less again for patients with a concession card.
Both kidney and lung cancer are among the 10 most common cancers in Australia with the incident rates of kidney cancer nearly doubling over the last thirty years. In addition, 75 per cent of kidney patients across Australia are listed as advanced.
The Hunter Medical Research Institute is welcoming the news, and Cancer Researcher Dr Craig Gedye say the medicine has proven to be very successful and the decision to have the expensive drug on the PBS is absolutely brilliant.
