The cost differential between these two drugs is no longer defensible
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon recently met with an alliance of consumer, industry and other stakeholders to justify the government’s plan to indefinitely delay the listing of seven new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). She argued that, after considering the advice of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), it was the government’s responsibility to decide whether or not to list a new drug, taking into account other priorities across the health portfolio and current fiscal circumstances.1
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Ken Harvey represented the Chronic Illness Alliance at the Consumers Health Forum PBS Summit. Richard Day is a member of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Drugs in Development for Novartis Australia.