‘Government needs to keep pace with the turbocharged era of technological change,’ says Health Minister at CanForum

Pharma News: Canberra’s Parliament House bore witness to the gathering of Australia’s leading cancer experts, policymakers, pharmaceutical industry professionals and cancer survivors as it played host to the annual CanForum event organised by Rare Cancers Australia. The focal point of this year’s CanForum was the highly anticipated release of the report RAREFICATION: Personalised Medicine in the Genomic Revolution.

Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care, officially unveiled the report during the CanForum. Reflecting on the current era of rapid advancements, Minister Butler emphasised the need for health systems and government processes to swiftly adapt to the extraordinary pace of technological change, stating, “This is an extraordinary period of change. I often describe it as a turbocharged period of discovery that we’re fortunate enough to be living through. It poses its challenges as a health sector and as a government to keep pace with that extraordinary pace of technological change. It’s making sure that the government systems and assessment of approval and reimbursement are agile enough to keep pace with a much faster speed of change.”

The Minister also reemphasised the government’s commitment to addressing health disparities, especially for Indigenous Australians. He said “While as a government we accept and respect the results [of the Voice referendum] from Saturday night, we recommit ourselves to the incredibly important task of closing the gap in health outcomes and life expectancy of Indigenous Australians which is just not closing in critical areas and in some areas it’s getting worse.”

Amidst the official proceedings, emotive sentiments were shared by Caitlin Delaney, a patient advocate and Founder of CareFully Solutions, who articulated the struggles faced by cancer patients in navigating the healthcare system.

“It is exhausting being a cancer patient. I get emotional when I think about all these patients when they realise that they haven’t been offered these genomics tests or new treatments that other patients have. I see the confusion, anger and fear in their eyes. I watch some of these patients die much earlier than they should. And this is a tragedy that plays out in our healthcare system every day.

“As someone who has worked hard and paid taxes your entire adult life, wouldn’t you expect the government to fund the best standard of care available? So let’s work together, change our attitude to risk and be innovative in our thinking. Let’s act on it and press go on this genomics revolution,” she urged.

Dr Jane Tiller from Monash University shed light on the critical implications of genetic testing and advocated for equitable access to vital healthcare services.

“We’ve seen stories of numerous women who developed breast cancer while on elective surgery waiting lists to have preventative surgeries after genetic testing – and that’s both in the public system and in the private system. Now, we can’t be saying that we’re increasing access to genetic testing and then say, well, these downstream services aren’t funded and some people can’t get this care.”

Tiffany Boughtwood, Managing Director of Australian Genomics, passionately voiced her frustration with the slow pace of change in genomics integration within healthcare.

“There’s been a number of consultations that point to the need for a national, coordinated approach for the development of genomics policy, irrespective of the shared responsibility of healthcare at the state and territory levels.

“I’m pissed off at the pace of change. I don’t want to be here another seven years and still banging the genomics drum. I will continue to have discussions about the legislative changes that we need to support genomics. I will continue to agitate for changes to health technology assessment (HTA) to better support the integration of genomics. And this is where the work of advocates like Rare Cancers Australia is so critical so that we do not accept complacency and incrementalism,” she remarked.

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