E-drug: Australian PBS (cont)
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This afternoon, the Australian Senate passed an amendment to the
sections of the National Health Act relating to the membership of the
Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. However the amendment
was changed substantially from what was originally proposed by the
Government, as a result of opposition, mainly from Labor and the
Democrats. In particular, the controversial amendments relating to
new membership terms, and their retrospective application, were
dropped. The media played a major role in pointing to the
illogicality of the Government's proposals. Media coverage
(particularly in the Sydney Morning Herald and Financial Review) was
sympathetic to the committee.
Our initial reaction is that this probably leaves the original committee
intact and free to consider their options. However this will need to be
confirmed with the Minister's office. The original amendments, which
appeared to be an attempt to appease the industry and dump key
members of the committee, have been dropped; so we await the next
development.
In the meantime can I thank all who wrote in support of the committee
(too many to mention individually). Your support has been enormously
heartening to all of us.
Thank you
David Henry
Professor of Clinical Pharmacology
Head, School of Population Health Sciences
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
The University of Newcastle
New South Wales
Australia
David Henry <mddah@mail.newcastle.edu.au>
Phone +61 249 211856
Fax +61 249 602088
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