Australian patients deserve careful PBS management, says pharma trade group

In a submission to an Australian Senate Inquiry which was released this week, the pharmaceutical trade group Medicines Australia has called on the government to think carefully about how it manages the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

'There's a right way and a wrong way to manage the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme,' said the group's chief executive, Brendan Shaw, adding: 'Forming therapeutic groups and having a protracted Cabinet review process are some of the wrong ways to manage the PBS.'

Medicines Australia's submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee Inquiry into Consumer Access to Pharmaceutical Benefits, which addresses the creation of new therapeutic groups for new medicines, highlights the potential risks of forming such therapeutic groups for patients, Government and industry.