People with type two diabetes can now get cheaper access to a new treatment that will dramatically reduce the number of injections they must have each week.
The federal government is set to list the drug exanatide on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from September 1, benefiting 20,000 people.
They will save $1600 a year and will only have to inject themselves once a week rather than twice a day.
Health Minister Sussan Ley says the move will help patients with their daily management of the condition which will have flow-on benefits for the hospital system.
Type two diabetes costs the health system $1 billion a year, she says.
According to Diabetes Australia, 4000 limb amputations last year could have been avoided with better management.
Other diabetes treatments also listed include linagliptin (Trajenta), linagliptin with metformin (Trajentamet), vildagliptin (Galvus) and vildagliptin with metformin (Galvumet).
Ms Ley said the listings were expected to be cost neutral because the drugs were an alternative to existing treatments.
