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Hundreds of thousands of Australians with hepatitis C are failing to access new curative drugs, despite the Government subsidising them at huge cost to the taxpayer.
The trend means the Government is at risk of missing its target to eradicate hepatitis C and of spending far more than necessary on the treatments.
Hepatitis Australia said fewer than half as many people were accessing the direct acting antivirals as they were immediately after they were first listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in March 2016.
In the first three months after the listing, more than 4,000 people a month were taking them, according to Kirby Institute figures.
But preliminary data suggests that has now dropped to fewer than 1,500 people a month.