Medication price drop
Patients will save about $20 million per year on the price of 492 brands of medicine, thanks to the federal government’s pharmaceutical pricing policy, designed to get better value for patients and taxpayers.
Patients will save about $20 million per year on the price of 492 brands of medicine, thanks to the federal government’s pharmaceutical pricing policy, designed to get better value for patients and taxpayers.
Minister for Health, Tanya Plibersek, said the price drops for the 492 brands of medicines started last Thursday, aiming to save patients up to $120 per year for some medicines, and up to $14.68 per script.
The medicines dropping in price include:
- Ceftriaxone an antibiotic, which drops by $14.68 per script
- Simvastatin for high cholesterol, which drops by $10.43 per script
- Clopidogrel for heart conditions, which drops by $4.27 per script
- Sertraline for depression, which drops by $3.64 per script
The government publicly subsidies these medicines through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
“It includes drops of up to about 35% in the cost of these medicines for patients.”
Concessional patients will continue to only pay a $5.90 co-payment for their PBS prescriptions.
“Price disclosure is already expected to save patients up to $1.6 billion over the next decade. With these additional price drops, savings to patients are expected to increase to more than $2 billion over the next decade,” Minister Plibersek said.
She announced that, from last week, the government was also listing 16 new medicines on the PBS for public subsidy, including new treatments for melanoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and stroke.
The government is reportedly investing $917.4 million to list these new medicines that will help more than 350,000 people per year.
Full lists of the medicine price drops and the details of the new medicines are available on the PBS website.
