Bowel Cancer Australia welcomes the listing of Braftovi (encorafenib) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 January 2022 as a treatment option in combination with Erbitux (cetuximab) for patients with BRAF V600E-variant metastatic bowel cancer who have not responded to a prior systemic therapy.
Around 1-in-10 patients diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer have the BRAF mutation.
Patients living with this subtype of bowel cancer have had to wait 229 days to be able to affordably access this targeted regimen on the PBS.
Cancer treatment is time sensitive, and many patients don’t have time to wait.
Help Bowel Cancer Australia close The Patient Access Gap by advocating for immediate affordable access following TGA approval of a medicine, so patients can benefit from life-saving and life-extending treatments sooner, while PBAC processes and negotiations continue.
If not you, then who?
“I genuinely thought the yuck feelings I was experiencing were due to a crap year living in lockdown during COVID,” said Adam, who was diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in early 2021, at the age of 36.
“Now when I look back, I realise what was happening to me, but I just didn’t realise it then.”
In November 2021, at his tenth month follow up and CT scan, it was revealed that Adam’s cancer has spread and that he carries the BRAF mutation, making him eligible for the Braftovi + Erbitux targeted treatment regime, which his friends have crowdfunded to help him pay for.
When Gemma was diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in April 2020 at the age of 35, pathology testing revealed she carried the BRAF mutation.
When Gemma was diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in April 2020 at the age of 35, pathology testing revealed she carried the BRAF mutation.
“There are limited treatment options apart from standard chemo, which doesn’t necessarily work for long with this particular mutation,” said Gemma.
“Having this treatment combination available on the PBS allows many of us with this mutation to continue to strive for a cure.”
The listing of Braftovi in combination with Erbitux on the PBS is a milestone Gemma, Adam and many others have been waiting for - no longer will patients and their families be faced with the difficult decision of going into debt to pay for the treatment or declining it.
For more information, speak with your oncologist and check out the Braftovi and Erbitux consumer medicines information (CMI).
