[(Title)] Call for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to include subsidies for more rare cancer treatments.

Oncologists say thousands of cancer patients are either missing out on medication or being forced to spend large portions of their savings on potentially life-saving treatments because of gaps in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

肿瘤学家说，由于药物福利计划（PBS）存在差距，成千上万的癌症患者要么缺少药物治疗，要么被迫将大部分储蓄用于可能挽救生命的治疗。

The National Oncology Alliance (NOA) is calling on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) to subsidise more rare cancer treatments.

国家肿瘤联盟呼吁药品福利咨询委员会补贴更多罕见的癌症治疗。

Queensland man Colin White was given just several months to live after being diagnosed with a rare small cell carcinoma of the lymph gland.

昆士兰男子Colin White在被诊断为罕见的淋巴腺小细胞癌。

But 18 months later, the 48-year-old is actually getting better after undergoing a new immunotherapy treatment.

但18个月后，这名48岁的患者在接受了新的免疫治疗后身体好转。

The financial burden of the treatment was significant, with each treatment alone initially costing about $5,000.

治疗带来沉重的经济负担，每次治疗开始都要花费约5000美元。

His wife Kim said she came across it via her own research and with help from their GP.

他的妻子Kim说，她通过自己的研究并在他们的政府医生的帮助下发现了这一点。

"We'd asked many times previously about alternative treatments and things like that, and they said no, it's extremely expensive," she said.

她说：“以前我们曾多次询问过替代疗法，但他们说没有，而且这种治疗费用极高。”

"Once you reach $60,000 it drops down to $700 a treatment. We're just lucky that we're in a position to be able to afford it at the moment — some people are not so lucky."

“一旦医疗费用达到6万美元，就会下降到700美元。我们很幸运，我们当时有能力负担得起，有些人并不幸运。”

The National Oncology Alliance says the Whites' experience is typical for people who are recommended cancer treatments that are not listed on the PBS.

国家肿瘤学联盟表示，White的经验对于那些癌症治疗没有在PBS上列出的人来说是典型的。

"We determined there are approximately 3,500 Australians paying for treatment at a cost of around $200 million, if you assume a treatment costs $60,000 per patient," NOA co-chair Andrew Vines explained.

NOA共同主席AndrewVines解释说：“我们确定大约有3,500名澳大利亚人支付治疗费，费用约为2亿美元，如果你假定每个病人的治疗费为60,000美元。”

"There are about 6,000 patients who are having that conversation with their oncologist but are subsequently not getting that treatment. The main reason is the cost of non-PBS listed medicines."

“大约有6,000名病人正在和他们的肿瘤学家交谈，但后来得不到治疗，主要原因是非PBS所列药物的成本。”

These findings come from a controlled sample survey of 68 oncologists, from a total of almost 450 who work in Australia. The oncologists who took part where asked about how they treat and advise cancer patients.

这些发现来自对68名肿瘤学家进行的控制抽样调查，共有近450名肿瘤专家在澳大利亚工作。

The NOA is supported by fundraising and a combination of government and pharmaceutical company grants.

NOA由募款和政府与制药公司的赠款组合支持。

Cancer Council Australia CEO Sanchia Aranda said patients with less common cancers were disadvantaged when it came to accessing medicines.

澳大利亚癌症委员会首席执行长桑奇阿朗达说，在获得药物方面，罕见癌症的患者处于不利地位。

Professor Aranda said one of the biggest challenges in subsidising cancer medicines was the pricing policies of the drug companies.

阿朗达教授说，资助癌症药物的最大挑战之一是药品公司的定价政策。

"If the drug companies brought patent-protected medicines into the market at substantially lower cost, it would be much easier to fast-track their approval for subsidisation once they've been assessed for safety and cost-effectiveness," she said.

她说：“如果制药公司以大幅降低成本将受专利保护的药物投入市场，一旦评估安全成本效益后，它们获得补贴将更容易快速地获得批准。”

"Ultimately it's individual drug companies that set the prices until a medicine comes off patent.

“归根结底，是个别的药品公司将价格设定到药品专利。

"The global community need to put pressure back on the industry to reconsider its pricing policies."

“国际社会需要向该行业施加压力，使其重新考虑其定价政策。”

But some other oncologists believe the system already works well, and most of their patients are not out of pocket.

但一些肿瘤学家认为，这个系统已经运转良好，而且多数患者没有袖手旁观。

NOA co-chair Andrew Vines said the Alliance had been calling on the PBAC to find new ways to list some of these new immunotherapy treatments on the PBS.

诺阿联席主席安德鲁·维纳斯说，联盟一直呼吁巴拿马找到新的方法，将部分新的免疫治疗方法列入药物福利计划。

"[We need] ways and means of allowing pharmaceutical companies to present an application to list a medicine — particularly an immuno-oncology medicine — across multiple cancer types," he said.

他说：“我们需要让制药公司提出申请，列出多种癌症类型的药物，特别是免疫肿瘤医学。”

"What we need to find is a mechanism that is responsible. No-one's suggesting that we go out and waste taxpayers' money."

“我们需要找到的是一种负责任的机制。我们不是去浪费纳税人的钱。”

Mr Vines said he hoped a meeting of the PBAC this Friday would consider the issue.

维纳斯表示，他希望本周五举行的PBAC会议能够审议这个问题。

That meeting is partly in response to a request from Health Minister Greg Hunt.

这次会议部分响应了卫生部长格雷格·亨特提出的要求。

Earlier this year he asked the committee to consider options for listing cancer immunotherapies medicines, which treat multiple tumour types, on the PBS.

今年早些时候，我要求委员会考虑在药物福利计划上列出治疗多种肿瘤的癌症免疫疗法的方案。

A spokesperson for the minister said the Government had recently invested almost $250 million in rare cancer drug trials to deliver medicines which are not yet on the PBS.

一位部长发言人说，政府最近投入了近2.5亿美元用于罕见癌症药物试验，以提供尚未列入药物福利计划的药品。