Minister to investigate generic medicines
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, said he would investigate claims that pharmaceutical companies are deliberately creating shortages of generic medicines to force consumers to pay premiums for brand name medicines.
It has been reported that one in six of the medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) incurs a brand premium and that this is often due to artificial shortages of generic medications engineered by manufacturers.
Medicines Australia says there is no evidence of deliberate manipulation of the pharmaceuticals market to restrict the supply of cheap medicines, however Mr Abbott will investigate the claim.
