More affordable menopausal hormone treatments for all!

Описание: The government has today announced that it will include several of the newer body-identical products for Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from 1st March, finally making them affordable for most women. This is in line with recommendations of the recent Senate Inquiry into perimenopause and menopause, based on evidence provided by myself and many other menopause experts.

For the last 20years there has been a limited range of hormonal treatments available on PBS which includes most of the older oral MHT products and patches.

But women’s bodies, menopausal symptoms and medical circumstances vary enormously; hormonal treatment is NOT "one size fits all" and many women need different products that have not previously been available on PBS. They have been unfairly disadvantaged because many just simply couldn’t afford the best treatment for them.

We’ve learned a LOT about MHT in the last 20 years, yet there have been no new additions to the range avail on PBS during that time- until now. For example, a huge range of older oral hormonal products are on PBS, but we now know that they can increase women’s risk of unwanted blood clots or strokes. Older hormonal treatments also contain synthetic hormones that have been linked to an increase in breast cancer risk. Current evidence suggests that the more modern, body-identical, TGA approved products (like the ones that will now be available on PBS) are less likely to have this effect.

The new PBS listing is for Estrogel, Prometrium and Estrogel Pro, which should now be available for $31.60 per month, or $7.70 for pension and concession card holders.

Approved "Body-identical" products like these (hormonal molecules with identical structure to those produced by our bodies) should NOT to be confused with so-called BIO-identical compounded products however. These may contain body-identical molecules, but are compounded in an unregulated way and have no evidence of consistency, effectiveness or safety. Also they are NOT on PBS, so there is absolutely no reason to choose those products instead of the TGA-approved body-identical products that will now be available on PBS.

If you currently have scripts for Estrogel, Prometrium or Estrogel Pro, most pharmacists will allow you to access the new PBS pricing from 1st March using your existing script. In some cases however they may insist on having the script re-written by your doctor. WellFemme patients can contact our admin team on [email protected] if this is required.

WellFemme is proud to have been involved in advocacy efforts that have led to this long-overdue change, and commend the government's quick implementation of these measures following on from the Senate Inquiry.