The drug goserelin – commonly known as Zoladex – has been a quietly crucial medicine in Australia for decades.

This prescription medicine is used to suppress sex hormones, and is a key medication for the treatment of prostate cancer, endometriosis and some breast cancers.

However, the international pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has announced it will remove low-dose Zoladex from Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and pharmacy shelves from November. This has many patients and clinicians worried this will impact patients’ treatment and overall health.

So what is this drug, and why is it being pulled from the Australian market?

And if you currently take it, should you be worried?

Zoladex is a synthetic hormone that affects how the pituitary gland functions. Specifically, it works to stop the production of testosterone in men, and oestrogen in women.

Given it helps reduce hormone levels, Zoladex is an effective way to treat medical conditions that are caused, or exacerbated, by sex hormones.

This includes prostate cancers, which account for 30% of all cancer diagnoses among Australian men. Prostate cancers need testosterone........

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