PSMA-PET Imaging to be Funded through Medicare in Australia from July

Melbourne (Australia) – 6 April 2022. Telix welcomes the listing of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) (PSMA-PET) imaging for patients with prostate cancer on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) from 1 July 2022.

Telix welcomes the listing of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) (PSMA-PET) imaging for patients with prostate cancer on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) from 1 July 2022.

MBS funding will cover the initial staging of intermediate to high-risk patients with prostate cancer and the restaging of patients with recurrent prostate cancer, commensurate with the broad clinical indications granted in Australia for Telix’s prostate cancer imaging product, Illuccix^®.

Illuccix (Kit for the preparation of ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11) is the only regulatory approved PET agent for the diagnostic imaging of men with prostate cancer available in Australia, having received marketing approval from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in November 2021. Australia has one of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world. In 2020, prostate cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in Australia with approximately 18,000 new cases.

CEO Telix Asia Pacific, Dr. David N. Cade stated, “This is an important step in enabling Australian men equitable access to this new imaging modality, which was recently approved by the Australian TGA. This decision by the Federal Government sets an encouraging baseline, confirming the importance of this new form of imaging in the staging and management of prostate cancer and is reflective of the growing body of clinical evidence and adoption of PSMA-PET imaging in global clinical guidelines.”

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