No case for further cuts to Australian PBS, conference told

The biggest round of price cuts in the history of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, coupled with historically low spending growth have removed any justification for further PBS cuts in the Federal Budget, pharma trade group Medicines Australia chief executive Brendan Shaw told an industry conference yesterday.

Speaking at the Future of the PBS Conference in Sydney, Dr Shaw said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Australia’s government and Medicines Australia was expected to deliver more than A$1.9 billion ($1.96 billion) in savings to the Budget bottom line.

“In terms of this year’s upcoming Budget and how the PBS will feature in that, our message is actually pretty simple - leave it alone,” Dr Shaw told the conference. “Whatever measure you use, there’s no case for further savings measures. Whether it’s historically low growth in PBS spending, the fact that the PBS is more or less falling after adjusting for inflation, low or falling numbers of PBS prescriptions, or the level of PBS spending in Australia relative to other reimbursement schemes internationally,” he added.