Sculptra may make PBS

Sculptra, a cosmetic procedure used to reduce the affects of muscular dystrophy, may become subsidised for people living with HIV following recent discussions at the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

The Committee met to discuss the possibility of subsidising the cosmetic surgery procedure, which stimulates collagen growth to stop the effects of facial wasting, and is expected to announce a decision in the coming weeks.

A NSW Health-sponsored program last year provided access for around 200 people on benefits in need of the procedure, indicating the need for such a scheme and the successes which could be achieved as a result.

Positive Life executive officer Rob Lake is anticipating a positive outcome on the back of this successful program.

We put a submission to the federal Government about supporting it and encouraged people with HIV, who had been through the program, to do that as well.

A big part of experiencing this stuff is psychological, Lake explained of the importance of Sculptra to people who are experiencing facial wasting.

There’s a sense of being recognisable and it becomes a question of, if you see someone walking down the street, do you think -˜there’s a person with HIV’ or just -˜that person is a bit gaunt’. So the psychological impact is that it helps people with their return to work, with their friends, and to not feel like their right to disclose has been taken away from them.

If listed, the procedure, which costs around $8000 for an initial treatment and $2000 for follow-up procedures approximately every two years, would become freely available to people with HIV who were unable to pay for it themselves, based on a doctor’s referral.

As of December 1, PBS will also subsidise a lower strength version of Kaletra, the first protease inhibitor to be approved for children.