Bayer’s first-in-class heart disease drug PBS listed

Pharma News: With hospitals under unprecedented strain, medical experts said Federal Government funding for a first-of-its-kind treatment for worsening heart failure could not have come soon enough.

Bayer’s Verquvo (vericiguat), a first sGC stimulator, will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1st December to treat patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The treatment group is limited to high-risk patients who have recently been hospitalised or received diuretics as outpatients for acute decompensated heart failure.

Professor Andrew Sindone, a leading cardiologist and heart failure expert from Sydney who was involved in clinical trials of Verquvo, welcomed the subsidy for the medicine, noting that each day 179 Australians are hospitalised due to heart failure.

“With each heart failure hospitalisation, a person’s risk of dying increases by 30%,“ he said.

“Heart failure is very serious and very common. One-in-four people die within a year of being diagnosed with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. One-in-five will be back in hospital within a month and most will be re-hospitalised within 12 months. By this stage, heart failure has a huge impact on the life of the patient, their family and also on our hospital and healthcare system.“

Ashraf Al-Ouf, CEO of the Bayer Group in Australia and New Zealand, commended the Albanese Government for its commitment to invest in innovative medicines for heart failure.

“The downward spiral of heart failure is one of the greatest public health challenges facing our ageing population. Affordable access to Verquvo will come as good news for Australians with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction who face the high risk of repeat hospitalisation or losing their lives to this insidious disease,” said Mr Al-Ouf.

With the significant impact of heart disease in the community, there is a strong push for early diagnosis. A review is under way to make the Heart Health Checks with a GP permanently covered by Medicare. The potentially life-saving measure is due to end next June.

Health Minister Mark Butler said “I’ve said I’m very supportive of it but obviously this review is important. We’ll talk more about it once the review evidence is in,” he said.

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