00:00People struggling with endometriosis are now getting a helping hand.
00:07The government has added the drug Visarn to the pharmaceutical benefit scheme.
00:11For too long, too many women have been made to suffer in silence,
00:15have been told by many health care professionals, it has to be said, that this is normal.
00:20Endometriosis is where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus.
00:25Having to wake up every single day in pain and just think this is how it is and how it has to be.
00:33Visarn helps to shrink that tissue and reduce pain, but it hasn't always been so readily accessible.
00:39It's also been distressing to see many women have to decline the treatment that they deserve because of cost.
00:47Now instead of paying around $750 a year, patients will only have to pay about $380 due to the government subsidy.
00:54If it can help a lot of other women the way it's helped me, even if it helps one woman, it will be worth it.
01:00Because honestly, it's been, as cliched, it is life changing.
01:03Endometriosis results in 40,000 hospital admissions each year.
01:08But experts say a lack of awareness means it takes more than six years on average for people to receive a diagnosis.
01:15I've also lived with the symptoms of endometriosis since I was 11 years old.
01:19I wasn't diagnosed until the age of 21.
01:23Doctors say the drug is effective in 80% of cases and could help hundreds of thousands of endometriosis sufferers.
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