{"id":482846,"date":"2026-02-18T10:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482846\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:55:10","slug":"clintons-life-could-be-cut-short-unless-he-pays-thousands-for-pbs-listed-medication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482846\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinton’s life could be cut short unless he pays thousands for PBS-listed medication"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of thyroid cancer 10 years ago, father-of-three Clinton \ufefffinally found a medication that is having a miraculous effect.<\/p>\n

But the 42-year-old’s second\ufeff chance at life is being taken away because the drug isn’t subsidised for his specific type of cancer.<\/p>\n

Clinton and wife Sally try to make life as normal and fun as possible for Chris, 14, Shayla, 11 and Thomas, 2.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Driver sets up public protest after claiming she was sold a ‘lemon’\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ClintonClinton and wife Sally try to make life as normal and fun as possible for Chris, 14, Shayla, 11 and Thomas, 2. (Nine)<\/p>\n

The father’s battle with cancer began after an urgent appointment with his doctor.<\/p>\n

“It turned out to be a rare reform of thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid carcinoma, medullary thyroid cancer,” Clinton said.<\/p>\n

Surgery got most of the tumor, but it was spreading, until 18 months ago he received a white knight in the form of a medication called selpercatinib.<\/p>\n

“Thankfully, mine worked very well to the point where my specialists were beyond ecstatic,” Clinton said.<\/p>\n

Clinton was supplied his prescription medication from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly on compassionate grounds while the drug is assessed for listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).<\/p>\n

Technically selpercatinib is on the PBS, but only for lung cancer patients.<\/p>\n

\"ClintonClinton’s second\ufeff chance at life is being taken away because the drug isn’t subsidised for his specific type of cancer. (Nine)<\/p>\n

“I got a pretty upsetting and confronting phone call late last year saying that the manufacturing company has withdrawn their supply to me,” Clinton said.<\/p>\n

If he wants to keep taking the lifesaving drug, it will come at a cost of $8000 per month.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“Now, $8000 a month is simply out of reach for us. We don’t even earn that much in a month,” Sally said.<\/p>\n

Endocrinologist Professor Bruce Robinson has several patients waiting for a lifeline from the PBS.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Petting zoo cafe owner facing disturbing new allegations\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ClintonTechnically selpercatinib is on the PBS, but only for lung cancer patients. (Nine)<\/p>\n

“This drug is remarkably effective with over 83 per cent of people who’ve got this particular thyroid cancer responding to the drug,” Robinson said.<\/p>\n

The professor says stopping the medication “would be disastrous”.<\/p>\n

“Almost certainly the person’s cancer would reappear or regrow very quickly and it would ultimately lead to their demise,” he said.<\/p>\n

Against doctor’s advice, Clinton has already started rationing his dwindling supply of capsules.<\/p>\n

“When the reality of that all comes crashing down, it is very difficult to know that my life is going to be cut short if I can’t stay on the medication that I’m on,” Clinton said.<\/p>\n

“I know one day I’m gonna be a photo on the wall and that’s hard for me to process.”<\/p>\n

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee will consider listing selpercatinib at its meeting next month.<\/p>\n

\"ClintonAgainst doctor’s advice, Clinton has already started rationing his dwindling supply of capsules. (Nine)<\/p>\n

But the meeting has already been delayed once and any outcome will take months.<\/p>\n

A Current Affair approached the Health Minister Mark Butler to intervene, with no luck.<\/p>\n

Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company which had been supplying Clinton with his medication on compassionate grounds, says his story is an illustration of how broken the PBS is.<\/p>\n

“I’m not asking for free treatment. There should be a more fairer way for not just me, everybody,” Clinton said.<\/p>\n

For more information about Clinton’s story, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FULL STATEMENT FROM FEDERAL HEALTH MINISTER MARK BUTLER\ufeff<\/p>\n

“We know patients want faster access to cutting edge medicine and treatments.<\/p>\n

That’s why our Government is working through the recommendations of the HTA review, so Australians can get faster access to the best medicines and therapies, at a cost that patients and the community can afford.<\/p>\n

I established an Implementation Advisory Group for the HTA Review and it recently provided its final report and reform roadmap to me to help guide future Government decisions on HTA reform.<\/p>\n

The Government lists medicines at the earliest opportunity once recommended by the PBAC and all relevant listing requirements have been met by the sponsor.”<\/p>\n

FULL STATEMENT FROM ELI LILLY<\/p>\n

“Clinton’s story is sadly one of many, and a heartbreaking illustration of how broken the PBS is.<\/p>\n

In the UK, Retevmo has been subsidised for medullary thyroid cancer since 2021<\/p>\n

The Australian Government must urgently increase investment in the PBS to ensure that Australians, like Clinton, can access life-changing medicines.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of thyroid cancer 10 years ago, father-of-three Clinton \ufefffinally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[49,48,84,377],"class_list":["post-482846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}