James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is investing in research into a potential COVID-19 vaccine whilst also continuing to provide critical support to Australians by listing lifesaving medications on the PBS?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Sturt, who, in the short time since he has come to this place, has been a great advocate for vaccines and for medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

In terms of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, new medicines will be listed tomorrow, including for lymphocytic leukaemia and lymphocytic lymphoma. Calquence is a medicine which will help over 1,600 patients have access to a lifesaving or life-changing medicine that would otherwise would have been beyond their reach at $140,000. Similarly, we now have, with Keytruda, a medicine for melanoma, a condition which can affect 15,000 Australians in any one year. Eight-hundred-and-fifty will specifically benefit from Keytruda being expanded for a new indication in terms of melanoma. That will assist 850 patients. It will allow them to access a medicine which would otherwise have cost $100,000 or more per year, and it will give them a real shot at life—a real chance to have the opportunity. We know the history. We know that this is something that this side of government has been completely committed to as a fundamental tenet of belief. It's something which the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have been advocates of and supporters for. We know this because of the history of that—which was stopped in 2011.

Having said that, the other great task we are embarked upon at the same time is the search for a vaccine. We've invested $5 million in the University of Queensland's molecular clamp. All up, we are investing over $350 million in vaccine research to help protect Australians, as part of the first limb of our vaccine strategy. What that means is that we're working in Australia on a homegrown protection as well as at the same time working on international purchasing, where we've struck our first and most important first stage agreement in relation to the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. Secondly, we are a part of the Gavi Covax Facility program, having completed all that can be done to this point in time. And, thirdly, we are working on manufacturing agreements, particularly in Australia, for delivering the vaccines to Australians at the earliest possible time.

In short, whether it's the PBS or whether it's vaccinations for Australians—these are fundamental tenets of faith for those on our side. We do this with the belief that they save and protect lives and they will be, fundamentally, part of the road out for Australians.