The Government will invest over $40 million to provide affordable access to two new medicine listings through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), helping Australians with opiate addiction and those suffering breathlessness throughout their final stages of life.

The $40 million investment will slash the costs of Buvidal and Kapanol, and save patients thousands of dollars.

Member for Page, Kevin Hogan said the listing of Buvidal gave those experiencing opiate addiction renewed hope for recovery.

“The listing of Buvidal will allow those experiencing opiate dependency, access to the right treatment and prevention so they may recover and lead a healthy life,” Mr Hogan said.

This medicine will be free for people in need as it will be listed on the Government’s section 100 Opiate Dependence Treatment Program, which does not have any co-payments.

Without the PBS subsidy, the drug could cost up to $92 per script (treatment durations are weekly or monthly) of treatment with the Government investing up to $4,800 for each person per year.

Kapanol helps with the relief of distressing chronic breathlessness in the palliative care of patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiac failure, malignancy or other causes.

Mr Hogan also welcomed the listing of Kapanol, saying it would help Australians who are suffering, when they need it most.

“Nearly 20,000 patients per year will benefit from this listing,” Mr Hogan said.

“Without the PBS subsidy patients would pay more than $143 per course of treatment. Under the PBS, this medicine will now be available to patients for just $40.30 per script, or $6.50 with a concession card.”

Since 2013, our Government has listed more than 2,100 new or amended items on the PBS

This represents an average of around 30 listings per month, or one each day at an overall cost of around $10.6 billion.

The Government’s strong economic management ensures the continued investment of record funding into vital health initiatives including medical research, mental health, life-saving medicines, Medicare and hospitals.