Australia's new PBS prices will drive significant savings, says GMiA

The new prices for medicines affected by the price disclosure policy on the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) were published last week, and will come effective on April 1, 2012, are the largest single price cuts in PBS history, noted the country’s Generic Medicines Industry Association (GMiA).

The impact of this reform will be extensive and will deliver substantial savings to government. “For the sake of patients and to secure a consistent chain of supply, we need to get these reforms bedded down first before embarking on any more policy change,” the GMiA stressed.

The price disclosure program progressively reduces the price of PBS medicines which are subject to competition, ensuring better value for money for those medicines. Price disclosure recognizes that there is discounting of generic medicines in the market place. The price disclosure policy is designed to claw back these discounts and this drives important savings to the PBS.