The Federal Government has secured a PBS listing for an alternative breast cancer treatment following AstraZeneca’s decision to pull its goserelin 3.6mg implants over a funding dispute.

Triptorelin 3.75mg, sold as Diphereline, is a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist and will be available at PBS prices from 1 October for conditions including breast cancer, endometriosis and uterine fibrosis.

Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler says the drug is a like-for-like substitute for the goserelin implant Zoladex, the delisting of which he said had “caused enormous anxiety” for thousands of women.

AstraZeneca announced in May that Zoladex would be removed from the PBS for commercial reasons and that it would instead provide the drug directly to patients who needed it for six months.