Cancer patients to get access to cheaper drugs

Five more critical cancer treatments will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from Saturday in a boost for thousands of Australians.

Patients with an eating disorder will have access to 40 psychological services and 20 dietetic services each year, says Health Minister Greg Hunt Source: AAP

Australian cancer sufferers will have greater and more affordable access to five treatments from Saturday.

Patients battling forms of leukaemia, advanced intestinal and pancreatic tumours, melanomas, bowel cancer and ovarian cancer will benefit from new listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Australians fighting those cancers will pay $39.50 per script, instead of up to $30,000 a year.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has hailed the new listings as a game-changer for those fighting cancer.

"We are now making on average one new or amended PBS listing every single day," he said.

"The government's commitment to the PBS is rock solid. Together with Medicare, it is a foundation of our world-class health care system."

The medications are Rydapt, Opdivo, Somatuline Autogel, Yervoy and Lynparza.

A Queensland man had a positive experience with Opdivo and Yervoy, helping him fight an aggressive cancer that returned for a second time in 2016.

Ron Flood was told he had six months to live, but through a combination of the two drugs through intravenous therapy, the Palm Cove resident has been give the all-clear.