The Federal Government has begun subsidising Avastin for women with stage 3 and 4 ovarian cancer.

Avastin is the leader in a new generation of anti-cancer drugs, which works by blocking the process that forms mutated blood vessels to feed a tumour.

Where a course of Avastin once cost about $4,000 a month, it has now fallen to just $36.90.

Ovarian cancer expert Jeffrey Goh from Queensland University says it is a major breakthrough for the treatment of ovarian cancer, which is diagnosed in about 1,400 Australian women every year.

Ovarian cancer is sometimes known as ‘the silent killer’, because its symptoms can be quite vague and masked by other illness, it often goes undetected until it is very advanced

Currently, only 43 per cent of women diagnosed with the disease survive five years, but Dr Goh says trials of Avastin in combination with chemotherapy can improve survival rates by six months in some cases.