A new report from Medicines Australia has found that just 25% of medicines launched globally over the past decade have been listed for subsidised access in Australia, compared with 88% in the United States and 46% in the United Kingdom.
18 medicines identified
The report, Bitter Pill: How Australian patients are missing out on the latest medical breakthroughs, identifies 18 specific medicines available overseas but not in Australia, spanning cancer, mental health, cardiology, immunology, rare diseases and infectious disease.
Medicines Australia says, the case studies include:
- “the first new schizophrenia treatment,
- “a radiopharmaceutical for advanced prostate cancer,
- “treatments for a rare form of haemophilia,
- “an important intervention for narcolepsy sufferers
- “and vaccines against RSV and meningococcal B, that aren’t available to all at-risk populations.”
‘Australian health standards are slipping’
Medicines Australia CEO Elizabeth de Somer says the 18 missing medicines showed Australia has “gone from a global leader to a laggard in funding new medicines”.
“The real number of missing medicines is likely to be much, much higher, but these 18 medicines should be all the proof anyone needs that health standards in Australia are slipping and that is due to one thing — chronic underinvestment in the PBS,” she says.
“Only 1 in 4 medicines launched globally in the past decade has made it onto the PBS. That statistic alone should be a wake-up call, but this report shows what it actually means for patients and their doctors.
“This is not a hypothetical anymore. It is a bitter pill to swallow for patients with schizophrenia, prostate cancer, Crohn’s disease and rare conditions who are missing out on treatments already helping people elsewhere.
“I think if the public knew just how many innovative medicines are now bypassing Australia because of an outdated process, they would be justifiably alarmed.
“The time for Government to see higher spending on innovative medicines as a cost and not as a long-term investment must finish.”
Underinvestment blamed
According to Medicines Australia, “the primary driver of the widening access gap is a decade of underinvestment in innovative medicines through the PBS”.
“Net investment in innovative (F1) medicines has fallen from 6.2% to 4.1% of the total health budget since 2015–16, while the likelihood that a new medicine will be reimbursed in Australia within 2 years of US approval has fallen from 1 in 5 to just 1 in 10.”
Patients feeling the impact
Tina Powney, who lives with pulmonary arterial hypertension, says that knowing that new treatments exist gives patients hope, but that hope quickly turns to disappointment when those treatments remain out of reach because they aren’t funded.
“People often take simple things for granted — going for a swim, camping with family, travelling or even leaving the house without carrying life-sustaining equipment,” she says.
“Living with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension means those simple moments become enormous challenges.
“Access to innovative medicines isn’t just about living longer; it’s about giving people the chance to live more freely.”
Medicines Australia is calling on the Federal Government to act on two priorities:
- “Real, sustained growth in PBS investment in future budgets,
- “The timely, transparent implementation of the 2024 HTA Review.”
