These new savings to the PBS were confirmed by the Australian Government on 27 April 2012 and are in addition to the AUS$1.9 billion in PBS savings over four years agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Medicines Australia and the Government.

The latest price cuts come on top of the 74 medicines that took price cuts on 1 April 2012 in what was the single largest round of price reductions in the history of the PBS [1].

The price of GlaxoSmithKline’s anti-nausea medicine Zofran (ondansetron) is one of the worst hit, being reduced by 77%. While sanofi-aventis’s cancer treatment Eloxatin (oxaliplatin) will take a 51% price cut.

Medicines Australia Chief Executive, Dr Brendan Shaw, said the latest price cuts were further evidence that reforms to the PBS agreed between the medicines industry and the Australian Government were working as intended.

‘Yet again we’re seeing price disclosure putting downward pressure on the price of medicines and containing PBS expenditure,’ Dr Shaw said. ‘We have historically low spending on the PBS at the moment. We’ve just had the most substantial round of price cuts in PBS history.’

Dr Shaw expects more price cuts to come in the future ‘as more medicines go off-patent and become subject to price disclosure’, resulting in ‘more savings to the government in years to come’.

Dr Shaw also reiterated Medicines Australia’s stance that ‘the long-term strategy to keep the PBS sustainable is working’ and that ‘there is absolutely no need for further PBS reform’. Adding that ‘by any measure the PBS is being well managed, spending is being contained and the program is sustainable.’

The 13 medicines that will face price cuts in August 2012 are: antipsychotic amisulpride (18.27%); high blood pressure treatment bisoprolol (18.75%); antibiotic cefalotin (16.99%); cancer treatment doxorubicin (32.97%); antidepressant escitalopram (36.76%); antiepilectic levetiracetam (14.15%); anti-inflammatory meloxicam (23.62%); cancer treatment mitozantrone (18.25%); chemotherapy nausea and vomiting preventative ondansetron (77.25%); cancer treatment oxaliplatin (51.76%); anticholinergic oxybutinin (11.25%); ACE inhibitor perindopril (11.59%); nausea/vomiting treatment prochlorperazine (25.55%).

Dr Shaw, on 8 May 2012, also welcomed the government’s recognition in the budget that the MoU with Medicines Australia is keeping the PBS sustainable; adding that ‘the budget reflected the government’s commitment to the MoU, which agrees to no further price related savings measures for the life of the agreement.’

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Reference

1.  GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Australia’s biggest-ever generics price cuts coming in April 2012 [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2012 May 11]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Policies-Legislation/Australia-s-biggest-ever-generics-price-cuts-coming-in-April-2012