Rare Cancers Australia has welcomed the December extended listing of Eisai's HALAVEN (eribulin) for the treatment of patients living with advanced liposarcoma.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee actually recommended the new listing in November last year largely on the basis unmet medical need and low financial impact. The therapy was already listed for the treatment of advanced breast cancer.

HALAVEN is for the treatment of liposarcoma, a malignancy of fat cells, which cannot be removed with surgery and for which prior treatment with chemotherapy has failed.

According to Rare Cancers Australia chief executive, Richard Vines, “In Australia, rare cancers remain an area of significant unmet clinical need in contrast to other common cancers such as breast, bowel and lung.

"The PBS listing of HALAVEN for people living with advanced liposarcoma, who have unfortunately failed on previous chemotherapy and can’t have their tumour surgically removed, is a welcome and affordable advance for Australian patients. It is great to see companies such as Eisai working with the Government to get much needed treatment to Australians living a rare cancer.”

“Eisai welcomes the availability of Halaven on the PBS from 1 December, which provides patients in Australia with a treatment option for their previously treated, advanced liposarcoma," said Jaime McCoy, director of Eisai Australia.

"We continue to be committed to the discovery, development and access to treatments for rare cancers like advanced liposarcoma.”

“The survival outcomes for patients with incurable liposarcoma can be poor and additional treatments are needed. HALAVEN represents an important addition to the options for clinicians treating these patients with advanced liposarcoma,” said Professor David Thomas, director of The Kinghorn Cancer Centre and head of the Cancer Division at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

This article was originally published on PharmaDispatch. You can read the original article here.