New type 2 diabetes treatment easier, cheaper

As of next month, the diabetes treatment exenatide (Bydureon) will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Sche (PBS).Federal Minister for Health Ms Sussan Ley indicated that the new drug could mean as many as 20,000 Australians living with type 2 diabetes would only need to inject thselves once a week, rather than twice a day. As a result, patients could avoid up to 13 injections per week and save approximately $1,600 a year.The 20,000 figure ses a conservative estimate of the product’s expected dand considering Diabetes Australia’s estimate that type 2 accounts for 85% of the approximately 1.7 million Australians living with diabetes.As with any prescription drug, it will be up to medical practitioners to decide whether to prescribe the drug after considering the possible side effects, so the 20,000 figure could end up being much higher. As one of our most prominent chronic diseases, type 2 diabetes is placing a significant cost on the nation’s health and finances at nearly $1 billion per year, Ms Ley said. According to Diabetes Australia, there were about 4,000 amputations last year that could have [been] avoided with better daily managent of a patient’s condition. Our hospitals also saw over 900,000 diabetes-related admissions. [Subsidising] innovative medicines like these makes it easier for thousands of patients to keep on top of their diabetes and better manage their medication, while not only saving th time and money, but also the health syst. It will particularly benefit indigenous Australians, who are five times more likely to die from diabetes-related causes than non-indigenous people. It was said that linagliptin (Trajenta) and linagliptin with metformin (Trajentamet) as well as vildagliptin (Galvus) and vildagliptin with metformin (Galvumet), for use in triple oral therapy, would also be made available under the new Septber listings, providing patients with additional treatment options for type 2 diabetes mellitus.Ms Ley said the new diabetes treatments were expected to be cost neutral as they are an alternative to existing treatments.