Industry involvement in panel for Australia's Life Saving Drugs Program

31 August 2018

The Australian government has said that its establishment of an expert panel for the Life Saving Drugs Program (LSDP) will improve the scheme’s ability to provide free medicines for rare and life-threatening diseases to those who need them.

Medicines Australia, a trade group which represents pharma companies in the country, agreed the panel’s formation with the government earlier this year to improve the administration of the program.

Chaired by Australia’s former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Tony Hobbs, the panel will include clinical experts, a health economist, patient advocate and industry-nominated representative Liliana Bulfone.

Medicines funded on the LSDP include some high-cost medicines that do not meet the criteria to be funded on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), the program through which drugs are normally funded in Australia.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Try before you buy

Free

7 day trial access

Take a Free Trial

All the news that moves the needle in pharma and biotech
Exclusive features, podcasts, interviews, data analyses and commentary from our global network of life sciences reporters.
Receive The Pharma Letter daily news bulletin, free forever.

Become a subscriber

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now

Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription

The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK