Funding Boost For Breast Cancer And Prostate Cancer Patients

Medicare rebates and technological advancement will help prevent unnecessary biopsies for Australian men battling prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is one of the country's biggest killers, with more than 17,000 men expected to be diagnosed this year alone and 3,000 lives claimed by the disease annually.

The funding comes as a part of the Federal budget, with new technology also on hand to reduce the number of 'unnecessary biopsies'.

"It will change prostate cancer care by reducing the number of biopsies that can leave men with infections and other unpleasant side-effects," said Prostate Cancer Foundation's chief operating officer Malcolm Freame.

"Multiparametric MRI is more likely to detect clinically significant tumours than the standard transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy."

The MRI system will reduce the necessity of biopsies by as much as 27 per cent.

A biopsy is also notably more expensive than an MRI, so the reduction should also provide a financial saving as well as offering a reduction in discomfort.

Another aspect of the Federal budget has seen a funding boost for breast cancer patients with the drug Ribociclib (or Kisqali) to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from July 1.

"It means they can avoid having to pay five thousand dollars a month for a treatment that's really helping them to live well," said Breast Cancer Network Australia's Director of Policy Danielle Spence.