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Internal medicine journal · Jul 2024
Comparative StudyTocilizumab use in giant cell arteritis: comparing Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme eligible and ineligible cases in South Australia.
- Lucinda Robinson, Maddison Hamden, Kim Griggs, Sumu Simon, Catherine Hill, Vidya Limaye, and Susanna Proudman.
- Rheumatology Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
- Intern Med J. 2024 Jul 1; 54 (7): 122812321228-1232.
AbstractTocilizumab (TCZ) is increasingly used as a steroid-sparing agent in giant cell arteritis (GCA), but there are strict Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) restrictions for its use in Australia. Patients who do not meet the PBS criteria can obtain TCZ through public hospital individual patient use (IPU) schemes which may not be universally accessible. We compared patients receiving IPU-approved TCZ with patients receiving PBS-subsidised TCZ and found IPU approvals were granted mainly for visual loss, a serious complication of GCA, in patients who otherwise failed to meet PBS criteria. Further studies demonstrating that TCZ is comparatively more effective than prednisolone monotherapy, as well as cost-effective, are needed to substantiate the rationale for expanding PBS approval criteria.© 2024 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
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