Ron Walker’s $150,000 cancer drug Keytruda approved for melanoma patients

Source: The Age.com.au, April 2015

Australia has become one of the latest countries to register the cancer drug that former Melbourne lord mayor Ron Walker credits with saving his life.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has registered Keytruda for initial treatment of patients with advanced melanoma.

The drug, which has not been listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, is expected to cost about $150,000 a year.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre’s Grant McArthur said more than 1000 Australians battling advanced melanoma each year could need the new drug.

“It is essential that these patients are able to access Keytruda on the PBS as soon as possible," Professor McArthur said.

Australia has the highest rate of melanoma in the world, with 31 people a day on average diagnosed with the cancer.

Clinical trials funded by the manufacturer Merck found Keytruda was more effective than existing advanced melanoma treatments.

Results of the trial, which involved 834 patients in 16 countries including Australia, were published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Businessman Ron Walker travelled to the US to join a trial of the drug in 2013, and has been lobbying for Keytruda to be made available in Australia.

Keytruda has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the US and has been accepted in Britain’s early-access pharmaceutical scheme.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Australia was the first country in the world to register the drug.