Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan said the Government will help improve the lives of those living with diabetes and hepatitis C by making two treatments more affordable, helping patients save thousands of dollars a year. He said hepatitis C drug Maviret is now listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). “Without the listing, patients could pay more than $50,000 per course of treatment for this medicine,” Mr Hogan said. “Maviret works by stopping hepatitis C virus from multiplying and infecting new cells. It belongs to a class of new treatments which provide a cure for well over 90 percent of people treated.” “I am also pleased that we will provide $1 million to Hepatitis Australia to continue education and awareness activities to improve hepatitis C testing and treatment uptake. “It is critically important to diagnose and treat hepatitis C early to avoid the risk of serious liver disease, including liver failure, cirrhosis and liver cancer. “People living with both type 1 and 2 diabetes will also be able to more easily regulate their blood sugar levels with the August 1 listing of Ryzodeg on the PBS.” Ryzodeg is the first diabetes pen to contain two types of insulin. “A basal insulin called insulin degludec, which has a long blood sugar lowering effect and a rapid-acting insulin called insulin aspart, which lowers blood sugar soon after you inject it,” Mr Hogan said. “Patients would normally pay around $930 per year for Ryzodeg. These two new listing on the PBS will now mean patients will pay a maximum of $39.50 per script for these medications or just $6.40 per script for concessional patients, including pensioners.” “Since coming into Government, we have helped improve the health of Australians by subsidising more than $9 billion worth of new medicines. “In the Budget we announced our commitment to invest $2.4 billion on new medicines to build on our commitment to guarantee those essential services that all Australians rely on.”