A nasal spray that’s having life-changing impacts on people living with depression is set to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), slashing the cost and improving accessibility.
It’s the first time in three decades that a new type of depression medicine has been added to the subsidised list, a decision that’s expected to help up to 30,000 Australians.
Alexis Hutcheon and Samuel Hockey live with depression that’s resistant to treatment.
“It really has been a concoction of things that you trial and feel let down by,” Hockey said
That’s until they qualified for a clinical trial testing Esketamine.
“At the time it felt like a last resort option for me,” Hutcheon said.
“I started to notice that things improved almost immediately.”
Esketamine – or Spravato as it’s known on the market – is a nasal spray that increases glutamate levels in the brain.
That’s the chemical messenger that impacts a person’s mood and thought processes.
“About half the people who’ve had treatment-resistant depression experience a significant improvement in their quality of life, a significant reduction in their symptoms,” Professor Ian Hickie from the University of Sydney said.
Consultant psychiatrist Associate Professor Liz Scott said: “We think that in some people it’s going to put them into remission, and long-term remission.”
Patients start with treatment twice a week then extend to weekly and fortnightly doses.
They have to fast for two hours before and be supervised after receiving the spray.
They also can’t drive for the rest of that day.
After years of testing it’s being added to the PBS.
Hutcheon called it a “gamechanger” and Hockley said it was “just a miracle”.
The spray will officially be listed on the PBS on Thursday, reducing the price from about $800 a week to $7.70 per dose for concession card holders, and $31.60 for everyone else.
Patients will also have to cover the cost of visiting a private clinic to be given the medication and be monitored.
