New drug price cuts demonstrate Australian PBS sustainability

In Australia, price cuts to over 100 Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)-listed medicines that will take effect on April 1, 2015, will again deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to government, patients and taxpayers.

Trade group Medicines Australia chief executive Tim James noted that these latest cuts reaffirm the pharmaceutical industry’s continuing contribution to the sustainability of the PBS.

“Ongoing price cuts to medicines through the Simplified Price Disclosure policy will continue to provide significant savings to government and ample scope to fund new and innovative treatments as they are developed,” said Mr James, adding: “Many of the most widely used medicines will reduce in price; for example commonly used cholesterol lowing drugs atorvastatin and rosuvastatin will take a 25% and 16% reduction respectively, whilst clopidogrel, which reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes, will take a 28.9% reduction.”