Liver biopsy should no longer be a mandatory for Hepatitis B patients to access antivirals and interferon medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the Federal Government's peak advisory body says.
The Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee has recommended that restrictions on hepatitis B antivirals and interferon drugs be changed so that: “for treatment naïve patients the evidence of chronic liver injury should be determined by confirmed elevated serum ALT (without specifying a specific threshold) or by liver biopsy”.
The recommendations from the PBAC’s July meeting, released online last Friday, come days after a Senate report called on the Federal Government to reverse its cost-containing policy of deferring action on PBAC proposals.
Dr Robert Gibson, a gastroenterologist at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital, told Gastroenterology Update he welcomed...
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