On the horizon: Dupixent® for 6–11-year-old children
Help children with severe atopic dermatitis receive access to life-changing treatment!
Now is your chance to provide comment to the government on making the atopic dermatitis (eczema) treatment Dupilumab® (Dupixent) available for use in 6–11-year-olds at an affordable price.
Dupixent is already available on the PBS for those aged 12 years or over who have severe atopic dermatitis and meet eligibility criteria. Reimbursement on the PBS means that the parent/carer pays $41.30 per two injections (less for those on a health care card), instead of the full amount of approximately $1650 per two injections.
We believe that children from 6-11years who live with severe atopic dermatitis should have access to this medication at an affordable cost.
We encourage you make a comment/submission to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) requesting reimbursement on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for Dupixent® (dupilumab) for the treatment of severe atopic dermatitis (eczema) in eligible children aged 6 to 11 years.
All submissions from this public consultation will be considered at the March 2022 PBAC meeting. In the lead-up to the PBAC meeting, patients, families and healthcare professionals are invited to comment on the medicines being considered. We will be making a submission and we encourage people who live with severe atopic dermatitis as well as parents and carers of children who live with severe atopic dermatitis to make a submission/comment. The period for comment opened on 24th November 2021 and your completed online form must be received no later than 27th January 2022.
The kind of information you could put in your submission includes:
- How does this condition/disease affect your life?
- What would you most like to see from this treatment? Fewer side effects than other medicines used? Less itch? Less flares? Improved quality of life? Less hospitalisations? Fewer skin infections? Other benefits?
- If you are using/have used this new medicine, what is/was your experience?
- If you haven't used the new medicine yet, what are your expectations of it?
- If you use other currently available therapies or medicines to manage your condition what are the benefits and/ or the challenges?
Comments from individuals will be made available in summary to the sponsor of the application and the PBAC. The names of individuals will be removed. All comments from groups or organisations will be provided in a complete form to both the PBAC and the sponsoring organisation.
This form is also available in hardcopy on request from the PBAC Secretariat on (02) 6289 7099.