New drugs added to PBS
Australians suffering from serious and life-threatening illnesses will benefit from 7 new medicines and vaccines being listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 April 2011, including patients with a blood disorder that leads to extensive bleeding requiring hospitalisation.
Listings for drugs associated with type 2 diabetes, and advanced Parkinson disease have also been announced.
The listing of the seven medicines and vaccines will add around $127.3 million to PBS expenditure over four years. Overall, the Government has added almost 500 new medicines or brands of medicines to the PBS over the last four years, at a cost of around $4 billion.
In all, 52 new and amended listings, and new brands of existing listings, that have no financial implications, are also scheduled to be listed on 1 April.
The Government has listed these medicines within the strict timeframes set out in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Medicines Australia.
Price increases for several medicines have been announced, along with refusal to allow increases for others, and has deferred listing of some medicines for which alternative drugs are already listed.
Full details at http://www.health.gov.au
