New cancer treatment gives lifeline to stranded women

When the drug keeping her breast cancer at bay was taken off the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in July, Katie-Marie Thorpe made the heart-breaking decision to remove her ovaries.

For the 34-year-old, that choice meant invasive surgery, weeks of recovery, and permanently entering surgical menopause.

"It also meant having to confront, finally and irreversibly, that I would never carry a child," Ms Thorpe said.

She is one of thousands of young Australian women who need ovarian suppression to combat a range of women's health conditions including endometriosis, uterine fibrosis or cancer.

Pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca's sudden announcement it would be removing the drug, known as Zoladex, from the PBS left the more than 13,500 women who used the drug last year alone in limbo.

"We simply woke up to a headline, read the news, and if you were like me, thought, 'hang on, that's my medication keeping me alive'," Ms Thorpe said.

"Women right around Australia were sitting in specialist rooms discussing permanent surgery options because there was no certainty about what ovarian suppressing treatment would be available to them in the months ahead."

On Thursday, the federal government announced it will add the alternative Ipsen-produced drug Triptorelin, sold under the name Diphereline, to the PBS, providing certainty for many patients.

The drug is an equivalent treatment to Zoladex that has been used internationally for many years.

Without the subsidy, patients could pay more than $1370 per script. Now the monthly supply will cost no more than $25.

Ms Thorpe was grateful that the arrival of Triptorelin means other women won't face the same agonising decision she faced.

"Nobody should be making irreversible decisions about their body because they are afraid a medicine might disappear," she said.

"A metastatic diagnosis guarantees a life full of hard uncertainties, but whether I can access the treatment that my oncologist prescribes should never be one of them."

Astrazeneca's Zoladex removal is not the only recent example of a life-saving drug removed from the PBS by pharmaceutical companies to better their bottom line.