A common chemotherapy drug for blood cancers has avoided deletion from the PBS after negotiations between health officials and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer produced a last-minute reprieve.
Vincristine (Oncovin) features on the WHO Essential Medicines list for more than a dozen indications including acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and multiple lymphomas such as diffuse large B-cell, follicular and Hodgkin lymphoma.
But just last month, the PBS publicly released an advance notice announcing the delisting of vincristine from the schedule on 1 March, following consideration of a formal request from Pfizer, the sponsoring pharmaceutical company, last year.
One reader who learnt about the change from a pharmacy shared their consternation with the limbic, suggesting new patients who required the drug might have to bear the cost themselves or apply to their health fund for access.
The advance notice was still public last week, but a spokesperson for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing told the limbic vincristine would remain subsidised after its PBS listing was “successfully negotiated” with Pfizer.
They added the advance notice would be amended.
“From time-to-time medicines are delisted, or removed, from the PBS. This generally occurs at the request of the pharmaceutical company responsible for supply of the medicine in Australia,” the spokesperson said.
“If the request is to delist the only brand of an item listed on the PBS, the pharmaceutical company must submit a formal request stating a reason for delisting to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) for consideration. The PBAC considered Pfizer’s application to delist vincristine from the PBS at its July 2025 meeting. The government cannot compel sponsors to continue to list a medicine on the PBS.”
In a response to the limbic’s questions as to why vincristine had been slated for deletion on the PBS, a Pfizer spokesperson said in a statement: “Pfizer regularly reviews products to ensure commercial sustainability of the company’s portfolio. We are committed to working with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) to maintain patient access to vincristine.”
Glofitamab combination gets RR DLBCL listing
Meanwhile, glofitamab in combination with gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (Glofit-GemOx) has been listed for the first time on the PBS for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (RR DLBCL).
From 1 March, patients will have subsidised access to the additional treatment option as long as they have received at least one line of systemic therapy and are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant or CAR T-cell therapy.
The listing follows the phase 3 sponsor-funded STARGLO study, which found the combination had a statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall survival improvement versus rituximab with gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (R-GemOx).
In the primary analysis, Glofit-GemOx was associated with a 41% reduction in the risk of death versus R-GemOx after a median follow-up of 11.3 months. There was also a 63% reduction in risk of progression-free survival compared to R-GemOx.
Updated results at 20.7 months were similar at 38% and 60%, respectively.
Over 500 Australians are expected to benefit from the listing each year. Without the PBS subsidy, they could pay more than AUD $15,000 per script.