Breakthrough melanoma drug Keytruda has been recommended for a restricted listing on the Pharma­ceutical Benefits Scheme, amid a sombre warning that the benefits of the $120,000-a-year treatment are overrated.

Notes from the latest meeting of the federal government’s independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee reveal it is “highly concerned” about a “substantial mismatch between the sponsor’s data and public expec­tations of the drug”.

Hailed as a breakthrough in the treatment of advanced metastatic melanoma, Merck Sharp & Dohme’s Keytruda is a class of immuno­therapy that uses the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells. It has attracted significant public attention given Australia’s high skin cancer rates, with Melbourne businessman Ron Walker, a melanoma survivor, adding his voice to calls for its availability at a subsidised cost.

Following its meeting in March, the 17-member committee has recommended that the drug be listed on the PBS via a managed entry scheme, which enables accel­erated listing of urgently needed drugs when there remains uncertainty around the extent or value of their effect.

Subsidised access, however, will be limited to patients who have not previously been exposed to Yervoy, the currently approved immunotherapy for advanced melanoma.

For more details, go to: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/pbs-listing-with-strings-for-melanoma-drug/story-fn59nokw-1227364250741