Miracle cancer injection costs $16,000 a hit and there are no benefits available

JACQUI Vanstone may not be alive it if wasn’t for four very expensive injections.

The drug, called Brentuximab, costs a whopping $16,000 a dose and is used to treat Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The 57-year-old has just finished her final round of the drug — a last resort effort after multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy failed to keep the cancer away.

While the treatment has been hailed a wonder drug overseas, it is not available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, so the Vanstone family has already forked out more than $60,000 from their own pockets.

Despite the high cost, Jacqui and her husband, Richard, say the drug is worth every cent. Mrs Vanstone is now eligible for a stem cell transplant because the cancer is shrinking.

“If this drug wasn’t available I wouldn’t be eligible for the stem cell transplant because you can’t be on the program while the disease is active,” she said.

“The scans showed that it (Brentuximab) had shrunk the mass in my chest by over 45 per cent — it’s working and it’s doing its job.”
Now the Vanstones have lobbied the Government to put the drug on the PBS through writing to their local member Amanda Rishworth, independent Senator Nick Xenophon and state and federal health ministers.

“We just want to get it out there — we want the story of how this should be on the PBS — we’ve proved it’s done wonders (and) medical research shows it does wonders,” Mr Vanstone said.

Mrs Vanstone, who has so far spent more than a month straight in hospital, hopes she will be well enough to go home for Christmas.
While the drug is far more expensive than they can afford, Mrs Vanstone said it had helped save her life. “I think you have to give it a try — you have to say if this is the only option I have left, I have to give it as best a shot as I can.

A Federal Government spokesman said Brentuximab was not registered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration so could not be listed on the PBS.

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