00:00According to Medicines Australia, which says that people could die while waiting for medicines
00:07to be listed on the PBS.
00:09So we know the federal government is frantically working to try to shield Australia from Donald
00:15Trump's ever-expanding tariffs, with the US president even this week flagging a potential
00:20pharmaceutical tariff of 250%.
00:23But Medicines Australia says there's a much more pressing issue closer to home, and that's
00:28how long it takes to list medicines on the PBS.
00:32It says the process is overly complex, takes too long, and involves excessive red tape.
00:38Rare Cancers Australia says as a result of this, patients are often having to find money
00:44to pay for medicines that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, while they wait for
00:49those medicines to be listed on the PBS.
00:52Of course, under the PBS, medicines are subsidised by the government, which means they only cost
00:57currently about $30 for the patients.
01:00The government picks up the rest of the tab.
01:02But Rare Cancers Australia says while people are waiting for that listing, they're having
01:06to either withdraw money from their superannuation, remortgage their houses, or even resort to crowdfunding.
01:13So they're calling for urgent action here.
01:15This was the first comprehensive review of the system in 30 years.
01:19It was handed to the federal government last year.
01:21It made a raft of recommendations to streamline the process so that people can access medicines
01:26earlier.
01:27The federal government hasn't yet responded to that report.
01:30Instead, it set up an implementation advisory group, an expert group.
01:34The chair of that group, Professor Andrew Wilson, is also the former chair of the Pharmaceutical
01:38Benefits Advisory Committee, which decides what goes on the PBS.
01:42He says one of the issues is that the system that they're dealing with is incredibly complex.
01:47And he says there's questions about whether the incremental changes we've seen to the PBS
01:51in the past and the PBS listing process have helped or even made it more complicated.
01:57So that's what they're dealing with at the moment.
02:00Medicines Australia says there's added incentive for things to move along.
02:04Of course, we know that the lengthy PBS listing process is one of the long-held gripes of US
02:10pharmaceutical companies.
02:12Earlier this year, they pressed Donald Trump to target Australia with punitive tariffs, saying
02:16the PBS was egregious and discriminatory.
02:20And so Medicines Australia says if the government implemented the recommendations of this review,
02:25that would go some way towards assuaging the concerns of Donald Trump and the US pharmaceutical
02:30industry.
02:31Health Minister Mark Butler labelled the review that was done last year as visionary, but he's
02:37yet to formally respond.
02:38He set up that expert group.
02:40He says that that group will provide him with the interim findings very shortly, within potentially
02:45as early as next week.
02:47And then their final report is due early next year.
02:50Let's take a listen to Health Minister Mark Butler on News Breakfast earlier.
02:55We're getting an enormous number of new medicines come onto the market.
02:58This is happening around the world.
03:00We're living through this turbocharged period of discovery that's bringing more and more new
03:05medicines.
03:05And so making sure we can assess them and approve them very quickly to get them into patients
03:10as quickly as possible is something I've said is a real priority for us this term.
03:15The medicines industry, understandably, I guess, given their interest, want to make prices
03:19higher as well.
03:20So there will be a bit of a debate about how we do that.
03:24But I'm very much on the page of getting medicines more quickly into our system, our PBS
03:29system.
03:30It's a terrific system.
03:31And we're trying to make medicines cheaper at the same time for Australians.
03:35Now, the opposition has accused the federal government of dragging its feet in response
03:40to that review.
03:41It says that it was handed down almost 12 months ago and that it's unacceptable that the government
03:47has yet to respond and that Australians are missing out on affordable and life-saving
03:52medicines as a result.
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