Every week matters
New treatments for pancreatic cancer are finally showing promise.
Our system needs to be ready.
Ask your MP to back faster access to new treatments.
New treatments are bringing hope for people with pancreatic cancer, but in Australia, accessing them can take years meaning people can miss out. For people with pancreatic cancer, every week matters. A government review has recommended changes that could help make new treatments more accessible, sooner.
You can help by emailing your MP and sharing your story using the form below.
Why your story matters
Behind every delay in accessing treatment is a person who can’t afford to wait.
MPs hear about policy all the time, but hearing from someone in their electorate about what it means for real people is what stays with them.
Your experience puts a human face to the issue and helps them understand what delays really mean for people and their families.
Writing about your experience can be hard.
Take your time, and stop whenever you need to. Our support team is here if you'd like to talk: 1800 003 800 or support@pankind.org.au.
Why we're asking for change
When you're living with pancreatic cancer, time is precious.
Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in Australia, and people diagnosed often have very few effective treatment options. New treatments are showing real promise, but getting them to the people who need them isn't always straightforward. Before a medicine can be subsidised through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), it goes through a careful assessment to make sure it's safe and effective. For conditions with limited options, the current pathway can mean waiting years for a medicine that could make a real difference.
For someone with pancreatic cancer, that wait can decide whether they can access a new treatment in time.
That's not a fair chance, and we believe it can change. Every Australian living with a hard-to-treat condition stands to benefit from this change, not only people with pancreatic cancer.
What we're asking for: a faster pathway for new treatments
In 2024, a national review of how Australia assesses new medicines, the Health Technology Assessment Policy and Methods Review, made several recommendations to the government. One of them offers a clear way forward for how new medicines are assessed which could directly benefit people with pancreatic cancer.
It's already on the table. Now it needs action.
Our ask of MPs:
Raise Recommendation 8 with the Minister for Health and support its implementation as a priority.
Recommendation 8
Improve the pathways and processes for listing therapies with high added therapeutic value in areas of unmet clinical need on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
In plain terms: a faster route onto the PBS for promising treatments for conditions with few options, like pancreatic cancer.
Read the review (PDF)Two steps to an affordable medicine
More than a year sooner
The proposed changes could help get promising medicines onto the PBS, and to the people who need them, more than a year sooner.
Step 1 times depend on whether a medicine is fast-tracked. "With the proposed changes" shows the HTA Review's goal of listing 90% of promising medicines on the PBS within six months. Source: Health Technology Assessment Policy and Methods Review, Final Report, 2024.