Australian Cabinet decisions to defer new drugs for PBS will hit patients financially

The Australian federal government’s decision to block the listing of eight new medicines and vaccines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will have a significant financial impact on patients, says trade group Medicines Australia’s chief executive Brendan Shaw.

The decision followed a recommendation from the government’s own clinical and health economics expert committee, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, that the medicines and vaccines should be subsidised on the PBS. Dr Shaw said patients suffering from conditions such as schizophrenia, chronic disabling pain, lung disease and blood clots will have to pay up to A$100 ($101) per month, instead of the PBS co-payment of A$34.20.

“This will hit ordinary Australians where it hurts - at the hip pocket,” said Dr Shaw, adding: “The panel of expert clinicians and health economists have advised the government that listing these medicines on the PBS represents value for money for the government. The government has listened to the advice of its own experts and decided not to take that advice. I think patients and the companies who have developed these medicines are owed a proper explanation. We should be a country that can afford to pay for the medicines that sick people need.”