Australia needs policies that increase generic medicine use

Australia’s Generic Medicines Industry Association (GMiA) strongly refutes claims by the Consumer Health Forum (CHF) that Australian taxpayers and consumers are over paying for generic medicines by A$2,000 a minute. Comparisons with countries such as the UK and New Zealand do not recognize the significant differences in the way medicines are supplied in Australia.

The fundamental difference is that patients in the UK and NZ receive the generic medicine designated by the state – patients do not have a choice. In Australia, patients are free to choose the original branded medicine and in fact one in four generic drugs dispensed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) are still the original brand, the GMiA argues.

It added that Australian manufacturers of generic medicines already supply medicines at the most competitive world wide prices, yet the Australian industry does not have the benefit of policies that achieve high levels of utilization of generic medicines.