Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bilyk for her first supplementary question. Heart failure is a progressive chronic disease where the heart muscle struggles to provide enough blood around the body. This leaves people fatigued, short of breath and at increased risk of being hospitalised and dying. Until now, treatment options have been extremely limited, but on 1 November a new medicine, Jardiance, was added to the PBS, with around 98,000 Australians expected to benefit. Together with standard care, this new treatment is expected to reduce the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure and cardiovascular death. Concession patients will pay just $7.30, and general patients $30, for this new treatment. This is all part of our government's commitment to making medicines cheaper.