Health minister Greg Hunt says he has personally intervened to obtain additional supplies of tocilizumab for Australia from the manufacturer Roche, as parents of children with juvenile arthritis say they are unable to obtain any medication due to an ongoing global shortage.
The Juvenile Arthritis Foundation of Australia says many families of children with JIA are now being told that their tocilizumab injection will be out of stock until next year, leaving children with few other treatment options than oral steroids.
“Parents are panicking … the crunch is coming right now as parents find from their pharmacy that there is just none available,” said Foundation spokesperson Associate Professor Ruth Colagiuri.
On World Arthritis Day, the foundation said the lack of the key medication only added to an ongoing scarcity of specialist services for children with JIA who were experiencing chronic daily pain, physical limitations and missing significant time out of school through illness and the demands of treatment such a joint injections and ongoing infusions.
Health minister Greg Hunt said he was aware of the impact that the global shortage of tocilizumab was having on juvenile arthritis and other forms of arthritis due to the high demand created for use of the drug in treating severe COVID-19.
“I have met with the Australian chief executive of Roche and have also written directly to the Global chief executive of Roche to formally request that the company expedite additional supply of tocilizumab to Australian public hospitals and pharmacies,” he said.
“I am delighted that they have been able to secure supply after close engagement with the Australian Government. This will not only provide continuity of supply and medicine for arthritis patients but also peace of mind.”
Tocilizumab manufacturer Roche says it is trying to scale up manufacture of the drug but will not be able to resume normal levels of supply of either intravenous or subcutaneous formulations until January 2022.
On its website it states that all supply of tocilizumab will only be via wholesalers and Roche will not supply the IV formulation directly to any hospitals or pharmacies.
It points to the recent joint statement made by the TGA and the Australian Rheumatology Association, advising that supplies of IV tocilizumab should be reserved for indications that have no or very few alternative treatments, including systemic JIA and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Because of the shortage of SC tocilizumab, Roche does not recommend switching patients from IV to SC during this period of shortage. A joint statement has been developed by the TGA, the ARA and Arthritis Australia, providing guidance for prescribers to manage patients on ACTEMRA® during this period of constrained supply. Please refer to the TGA website for this information.
Meanwhile, health minister Greg Hunt has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available from the Medical Research Future Fund for research targeted at Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions in Children and Adolescents.
“The intended outcome of this grant opportunity is to improve the health care for children and adolescents with chronic musculoskeletal conditions by developing superior diagnostic approaches and by building evidence for best treatment approaches, including improved therapeutic regimes and validated models of care,” he said.