BMS scores world first PBS win

The Federal Government has claimed a world first for the multi-indication PBS listing of BMS immunotherapy drugs Opdivo and Yervoy from this month.

The landmark reimbursement is a major breakthrough in the way medicines are funded in Australia. It entrusts clinicians to use their clinical judgment to use the immunotherapy drugs in advanced or metastatic cancers based on the best available evidence.

The listing also allows for retreatment, removing the “once in a lifetime” rule for patients needing further treatment, and opens the gates for the immunotherapy pair to be used in rare cancers for which regulatory submissions are unlikely.