E-drug: Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to be weakened
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/2000/12/01/FFXP90I66GC.html
Government to scrap drug watchdog
By MARY-ANNE TOY
HEALTH EDITOR
Friday 1 December 2000
The Federal Government has moved to dissolve a committee that
recommended the anti-impotence drug Viagra should not be listed on
Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Under legislation to go before the Senate on Monday, the
Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee will be dissolved and five
of its members, including chairman Professor Don Birkett, will be
disqualified from reappointment.
The legislation prompted claims yesterday that the committee's
independence is being undermined by pressure from the pharmaceutical
industry, because it had been too successful in capping the price the
companies receive for their drugs.
Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge and the industry dismissed
the claims as paranoia.
A committee member, who declined to be named, said multinational drug
companies had been lobbying to weaken the PBS listing process because
they were concerned other countries were moving to adopt the system,
and this would affect their profits.
The most public example of tensions between the advisory committee -
comprised of pharmacists, doctors, pharmacologists and a consumer
representative - and a multinational company was the Federal Court
action taken by Pfizer last year after its application for PBS
listing of Viagra was rejected. Pfizer lost the case but has appealed
to the full bench.
"They have failed so far to seriously damage the system and have also
failed in court, so now they are targeting the individuals rather
than the issues," the committee member said.
The chief executive of the Australian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Association, Alan Evans, said it was outrageous to suggest the
industry wanted to get rid of the current committee.
"The only point we have made (to the government) is that the
committee needs to be modern and relevant, and the way the (Health)
Act is structured the minister has got restraints on him," Mr Evans
said. "We understand why the minister is introducing amendments to
make sure he can structure a committee so it meets the needs of 2001."
Professor Stephen Duckett, Dean of LaTrobe University's health
sciences faculty, said the PBS had an international reputation. "The
industry is worried that other countries are picking up on it because
it has been effective," he said.
"There are lots of things that are worthwhile but are not value for
money and the best example is Viagra ... it's in the interest of the
industry to weaken the procedures."
Opposition health spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said she was concerned by
the possible axing of the committee. "I'm worried particularly about
the speed with which the government has decided to bring this
amendment in. We have only just received the amendment today," she
said.
"We're not going to be railroaded with changes to an institution like =
the PBS."
The amendment is the result of a review of the PBS completed in
February by Senator Grant Tambling. A spokeswoman for Dr Wooldridge
said Senator's Tambling's recommendations were accepted by the PBAC.
She said attempts to improve the PBS always generated "conspiracy
theories".
Reprinted under the fair use doctrine
of international copyright law:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
Melissa Raven, Lecturer, Addiction Studies Coordinator
Department of Public Health, Flinders University
G5 Flats, Flinders Medical Centre
BEDFORD PARK SA 5042 AUSTRALIA
Phone: (08) 8204 5714 Fax: (08) 8204 5693 International 61 8
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