School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2024 Jul 31;150(8):375. doi: 10.1007/s00432-024-05889-x.
Cancer treatment remains a significant and escalating healthcare expense worldwide. Although annual reports on total cancer care costs are available, the potential impact of evolving treatment guidelines and the introduction of new drugs on future budgeting remains largely uncertain. The aim of this study was to examine the trends in the use of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)-subsidised cancer drugs in Australia over the past decade.
PBS codes for all PBS-subsidised cancer drugs that were listed in government-endorsed treatment protocols were obtained and used to retrieve usage data. Their patterns of use, represented by the number of prescriptions (services) processed by Services Australia, were analysed for the period between 2012 and 2022.
The overall prescribing of cancer drugs is outpacing Australia's population growth, primarily due to an ageing population and the accelerated rise in cancer diagnoses observed over the past decade. From 846 eviQ protocols, 141 cancer drugs were available on the PBS, of which kinase inhibitor (39 drugs) and monoclonal antibody drugs (24 drugs) had the highest increase in use during the study period; 16% and 23% respectively. Of the 8 drug classes, hormonal agents (20 drugs) were the most prescribed.
The utilisation of PBS-listed cancer drugs is increasing faster than population growth, especially for high-cost monoclonal antibody and kinase inhibitor drugs, indicating continued pressure on government spending.
癌症治疗仍然是全球范围内一项重要且不断加剧的医疗保健支出。尽管有关于癌症总治疗费用的年度报告，但治疗指南的不断发展和新药的推出对未来预算的潜在影响在很大程度上仍不确定。本研究旨在考察过去十年中澳大利亚使用药物福利计划（PBS）补贴癌症药物的趋势。
获取并使用政府认可的治疗方案中列出的所有 PBS 补贴癌症药物的 PBS 代码，以检索使用数据。分析了 2012 年至 2022 年期间澳大利亚服务局处理的处方（服务）数量所代表的使用模式。
癌症药物的总体处方数量超过了澳大利亚的人口增长，主要原因是人口老龄化和过去十年中癌症诊断率的加速上升。在 846 个 eviQ 方案中，有 141 种癌症药物可通过 PBS 获得，其中激酶抑制剂（39 种药物）和单克隆抗体药物（24 种药物）在研究期间的使用量增长最快；分别为 16%和 23%。在 8 个药物类别中，激素制剂（20 种药物）的使用量最大。
PBS 上市的癌症药物的使用量增长速度超过了人口增长速度，尤其是高成本的单克隆抗体和激酶抑制剂药物，这表明政府支出继续面临压力。
