Subsidy for New Treatment of ‘National Cancer’ Melanoma

Australians paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for advanced melanoma treatment could soon see their costs slashed. Every year, 20,000 Australians receive a melanoma diagnosis, and every six hours, a patient will die from skin cancer. But Australians with recurrent melanoma will be given new hope when the cutting-edge treatment Opdualag is added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on February 1, making it available to patients at a government-subsidised price. The treatment is a combination of immunotherapies designed to help the body fight cancer and in a country with some of the world’s highest melanoma rates, the new listing is expected to benefit about 940 patients each year....