Medicines Australia says wait times bigger issue than US tariffs

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia's medicine industry says lengthy wait times for drugs to put on the PBS is a more urgent threat than possible American tariffs. US President Donald Trump is threatening to hit pharmaceuticals with tariffs as high as 250 per cent but the drug industry's peak body is warning people could die while waiting for lifesaving medicines to be listed on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.

Transcript

00:00This was the first comprehensive review of the system in 30 years.

00:05It was handed to the federal government last year.

00:08It made a raft of recommendations to streamline the process so that people can access medicines

00:13earlier.

00:14The federal government hasn't yet responded to that report, instead it set up an implementation

00:18advisory group, an expert group.

00:21The chair of that group, Professor Andrew Wilson, is also the former chair of the Pharmaceutical

00:25Benefits Advisory Committee, which decides what goes on the PBS.

00:29He says one of the issues is that the system that they're dealing with is incredibly complex.

00:34And he says there's questions about whether the incremental changes we've seen to the

00:38PBS in the past and the PBS listing process have helped or even made it more complicated.

00:44So that's what they're dealing with at the moment.

00:47Medicines Australia says there's added incentive for things to move along.

00:51Of course, we know that the lengthy PBS listing process is one of the long-held gripes of US

00:57pharmaceutical companies.

00:58Earlier this year, they pressed Donald Trump to target Australia with punitive tariffs, saying

01:03the PBS was egregious and discriminatory.

01:05And so, Medicines Australia says if the government implemented the recommendations of this review,

01:11that would go some way towards assuaging the concerns of Donald Trump and the US pharmaceutical

01:17industry.

01:18Now, Health Minister Mark Butler labelled the review that was done last year as visionary,

01:23but he's yet to formally respond.

01:25He set up that expert group.

01:27He says that that group will provide him with the interim findings very shortly, within potentially

01:33as early as next week.

01:34And then their final report is due early next year.

01:37Let's take a listen to Health Minister Mark Butler on News Breakfast earlier.

01:42We're getting an enormous number of new medicines come onto the market.

01:46This is happening around the world.

01:47We're living through this turbo-charged period of discovery that's bringing more and more

01:52new medicines.

01:53And so, making sure we can assess them and approve them very quickly to get them into patients

01:57as quickly as possible is something I've said is a real priority for us this term.

02:02The medicines industry, understandably, I guess, given their interests, want to make prices

02:06higher as well.

02:07So, there will be a bit of a debate about how we do that, but I'm very much on the page

02:13of getting medicines more quickly into our system, our PBS system.

02:17It's a terrific system and we're trying to make medicines cheaper at the same time for

02:21Australians.

02:22Now, the opposition has accused the federal government of dragging its feet in response

02:26to that review.

02:27It says that it was handed down almost 12 months ago and that it's unacceptable that the government

02:33has yet to respond and that Australians are missing out on affordable and life-saving medicines

02:38as a result.

02:39So, let's see.

02:40Let's see.

02:41Let's see.

02:42Let's see.

02:43Let's see.

02:44Let's see.

02:45Let's see.

02:46Let's see.

02:47Let's see.

02:48Let's see.

02:49Let's see.

02:50Let's see.

02:51Let's see.

02:52Let's see.

02:53Let's see.

02:54Let's see.

02:55Let's see.

02:56Let's see.

02:57Let's see.

02:58Let's see.

02:59Let's see.

03:00Let's see.

03:01Let's see.

03:02Let's see.

03:03Let's see.

03:04Let's see.

03:05Let's see.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended