'Revolutionary' melanoma drug worth $150,000 a year listed on...

'Revolutionary' melanoma drug worth $150,000 a year listed on PBS, saving Australian patients thousands
Updated about 3 hours ago

PHOTO: Professor Grant McArthur from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (left) and Ron Walker (right). (ABC News: Justine Longmore)
MAP: Melbourne 3000PHOTO: Breakthrough drug, Keytruda, previously cost patients about $150,000 a year. (ABC News: Justine Longmore)
"It's an amazing break-through."

Ms Ley said that while every individual responded differently to the treatment, unlike chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Keytruda did not make patients sick.

"Icons like Ron Walker have explained how this drug has made them cancer free, sadly that's not always the case, but what we do know is that new generation drugs increasingly target the individual cells within a tumour, so they allow a person quality of life while they are unwell," she said.

Professor McArthur said the immune-based treatment worked by "unlocking the power of the body's own immune system to attack and reject a cancer".

He said the drug, which is delivered intravenously once every three weeks, was the most "remarkable" he had seen in his career.

"Keytruda is benefiting over 40 per cent of patients with melanoma, with a substantial proportion of patients getting long-term durable responses," he said.

"Sadly advanced melanoma leads to the death of almost 1,500 Australian patients a year, Keytruda is going to change the lives dramatically of many of these patients, with a significant portion of patients we believe becoming longer-term survivors.

"Advanced melanoma is fatal in nearly all patients, so without drugs like Keytruda and other new melanoma drugs, the future for patients is grim - but now it is different."