Just when you thought we were seeing advancements in women’s health, we see a pharmaceutical citing “commercial reasons” for discontinuing a key treatment drug that breast cancer and endometriosis patients rely on.
AstraZeneca will remove a key drug that more than 8000 Australians use as part of ongoing breast cancer and endometriosis treatment, Zoladex 3.6mg, from Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 November 2026, and from pharmacy shelves.
Interestingly, the higher dose Zoladex 10.8mg, which is PBS approved for prostate cancer patients, is not due to be pulled from the Australian market.
An additional six-month reprieve has been secured for existing patients who cannot access alternatives — thanks to the advocacy efforts of the women-founded, led, and run Breast Cancer Network Australia — while AstraZeneca has now applied for the higher-dose version to be PBS-approved for breast cancer patients.
But the uncertainty and frustration remain as patients question why they’ve been hit with further stress and uncertainty.
Worse, the majority of those who use the drug heard about its being discontinued via the news, following questions raised by health department officials in Senate Estimates earlier this week.
Needless to say, learning that a pharmaceutical’s “commercial reasons” could disrupt access to vital medications has caused heightened anxiety and concern for breast cancer and endometriosis patients in Australia.
One such woman who learnt about it this way was Ashleigh Middleton, who immediately set to work launching a petition calling on the Federal Government to intervene to ensure continued options after she heard (via the news) on Thursday.
At age 30, Ashleigh was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and went on to undertake surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment. She’s now on ongoing hormone therapy treatments that are required for five years, and relies on Zoladex as part of this ongoing treatment, which suppresses her ovaries and reduces her risk of breast cancer recurrence.
Ashleigh notes that despite running a medical centre herself in Melbourne, she only learnt about the drug’s discontinuation on the news.
Further, one week into her own mission to spend the months of June raising funds for breast cancer awareness and research and support the breast cancer community, she’s especially disheartened to see how one option that already achieves great results for the community is getting shelved.
So the sting is particularly real for Ashleigh to see that commercial reasons may remove a medication she relies on.
“Patients are not profit margins. Cancer treatment should not come with a corporate plot twist,” she says.
She is, she says, not asking to be told she’s “brave” and courageous for undergoing treatment, but rather “for continued access to the medication that helps reduce my risk of ever having to go through that again.”
And she doesn’t believe anyone should have to “find out through the news” that a medication they’re relying on as part of an ongoing treatment plan might be taken away.
Zoladex offers a critical form of ovarian suppression and ongoing hormone treatment for breast cancer patients. For endometriosis patients, the drug offers support in managing the painful, chronic condition. Zoladex 3.6mg is administered monthly as a small pellet that is injected under the skin, while the higher dose is administered every 12 weeks. Ashleigh noted she’s not yet sure if the higher dose is an option, but suspected there could be reasons why it’s not currently offered. Also, the higher dose is not currently PBS approved for breast cancer and endometriosis patients.
While Astrazeneca isn’t revealing much about its reasons for the discontinuation — but notes it’s unrelated to the drug’s safety and efficacy — Professor Nial Wheate from Macquarie University speculates that it could come down to demand for the low-dose Zoladex in Australia compared with overseas, with Australia making up just 2.1 per cent of total global demand for medicines (he also provides an excellent explainer on options for those currently on the low dose option).
8600 patients in Australia have received the medication in the first three months of this year, according to the Health Department. The vast majority of them are women, given that it’s primarily used for breast cancer and endometriosis treatment.
And those thousands of women are likely feeling unexpected uncertainty today, additional stress that no one needed — least of all those who have already undergone significant, life-changing treatment.
As Vicki Durston from the Breast Cancer Network Australia said, women are understandably concerned about the sudden announcement. Especially since there has been no clear explanation of the alternative pathway.
Efforts from the BCNA have enabled the Network to secure concessions from AstraZeneca on the issue, including an additional 6 months of supply for eligible patients who do not yet have alternative treatment options. The BCNA has also confirmed that AstraZeneca has submitted an application to make their high-dose Zoladex available on the PBS. That’s all thanks to advocacy and negotiation work by the BCNA, offering a reminder of the benefits of such networks and also the risks when such advocacy options are not available across different health issues.
Ashleigh’s petition can be found here.