Australians with treatment-resistant depression will soon have affordable access to a new therapy, with the nasal spray SPRAVATO® (esketamine) listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 May.
SPRAVATO is the first new type of medicine for major depression funded by the government in 30 years.
It will be available for adults whose condition hasn’t responded to at least 2 different antidepressants.
Used alongside a newly-initiated oral antidepressant, SPRAVATO will be available through the PBS at a cost of $7.70 (pensioner or concession card) or $31.60 (general patients) for each dose of the medication.
Up to 30,000 Australis are expected to benefit from the PBS listing.
‘Affordable access to treatment essential’
Professor Ian Hickie AO, Co-Director of Health and Policy, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, welcomes the reimbursement of SPRAVATO.
“For the first time, we have a government-funded medicine specifically for people trapped in an acute depressive episode despite treatment with multiple antidepressants,” he says.
“Depression of this nature affects every aspect of a person’s life and can make it seem as though life is not worth living.
“When multiple treatment options have not delivered relief, that feeling can be compounded, leaving people with little hope.
“People with treatment-resistant depression have complex and often urgent mental healthcare needs.
“Affordable access to treatment is essential if we are to help them out of what is often a dark, deep and dangerous hole.”
Treatment-resistent depression means more severe symptoms
Depression affects 1 in 7 Australians.
It’s estimated that a third of Australians living with depression cycle through multiple antidepressant treatments without satisfactory relief, and are therefore deemed to have ‘treatment-resistant depression’.
Compared to people with major depressive disorder, those with treatment-resistant depression tend to experience more severe symptoms, significantly longer depressive episodes, suicidal thoughts, an inability to experience joy, and a higher number of depressive episodes during their lifetime.
SPRAVATO, a glutamate receptor modulator, is administered under clinical supervision via nasal spray at certified treatment centres.
SPRAVATO is administered 2/week for the first month, weekly for the next month, and then weekly or fortnightly until depressive symptoms improve, at which point treatment should continue for at least 6 months.
‘PBS listing long overdue’
Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine ANZ Managing Director, Joana De Castro says the PBS listing of SPRAVATO is “long overdue”.
“Four years after TGA registration and following four funding submissions, we are pleased that Australians with treatment-resistant depression will at last have access to SPRAVATO through the PBS,” she says.
If you or anyone you know needs help, support services are available through Lifeline (13 11 14), Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636), and the Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467).
