Australian women will soon have access to a new form of contraceptive with the Morrison Government a new listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
On March 1, Kyleena® (levonorgestrel), a long-acting reversible hormone-releasing intrauterine system (IUS) contraceptive, will be listed on the PBS for the first time, giving Australian women more choice.
This is the first new form of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) to be subsidised on the PBS in more than 15 years and will provide Australian women with greater choice.
Most Australian women – 81 per cent – aged 16-49 years use some form of contraception, and over 200,000 women per year may choose to use this form of contraceptive.
Without the subsidy, women would pay $160 per application a year to access this medicine. As a result of this listing on the PBS, they will now only pay as little as $6.60 per application, for concessional scripts, just $41 per application for general scripts.
Kyleena is a small, flexible plastic T-shaped device inserted into a woman’s uterus by a healthcare professional to provide birth control for up to five years. The device can be removed by a healthcare provider at any time, allowing fertility to quickly return.
Before the listing of Kyleena® there was only one other IUS on the PBS. Kyleena® is smaller in size and a lower dose is required.
This announcement compliments the Morrison Government’s National Women’s Health Strategy for 2020 to 2030 (the Strategy), aiming to improve health outcomes for all women.
The strategy identifies increased access to long-acting reversible contraception as a key measure of success.
The health of women and girls in Australia is fundamental to us all, to the individuals themselves, to their families and communities and to our nation.
This listing has been recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.
Unlike Labor we are listing all new medicines recommended by the PBAC.
Since 2013, our Government has approved close to 2,300 new or amended listings on the PBS. This represents an average of about 30 new or amended PBS listings per month – or one each day – at an overall investment by the Government of $10.9 billion since 2013.
Each of these listings has been recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).
The Government’s commitment to ensuring Australians can access affordable medicines, when they need them, remains rock solid.
We are able to provide unprecedented levels of support to health and medical research because of our strong economic management.
