# \[e-drug\] Further dirty tricks in Australia **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [July 25, 2001, 9:50am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-further-dirty-tricks-in-australia/11975 "2001-07-25T09:50:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mddah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@mddah](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/mddah)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 9:50am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-further-dirty-tricks-in-australia/11975/1 "2001-07-25T09:50:59Z")
E-drug: Further dirty tricks in Australia ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recent events have moved me to put on record some of the further experiences of former members of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee and their supporters. As some readers of this site will be aware, most PBAC members (10/12) were sacked or resigned in December 2000 after a serious disagreement with the Australian government, which viewed the committee as having an unduly adversarial relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. An investigative television program (ABC Four Corners) established that the industry had lobbied to have particular members removed from the committee and to place an industry representative on the committee. Most of us who were involved thought that the dissolution of the committee would be the end of the matter and we could get on with our lives. Not so... Three people have been targeted for special continued attention - 2 former members Martyn Goddard and myself, and a supporter, Dr Ken Harvey from La Trobe University (Melbourne). Ken Harvey was unexpectedly accused by his institution of serious misconduct for posting on a university Web site news articles and published cartoons relating to the PBAC debacle. The material, an extremely useful summary of the history and background to the events, had links to published material that featured alleged relations between the federal health minister and the pharmaceutical industry. The material had been available for some time and the timing of the University's attack on Dr Harvey was a surprise to all. As you know, the latest news is that the university has not proceeded with official action and has settled its differences with Dr Harvey (who appears unable to comment) - I feel sure that the many international expressions of support must have helped. Martyn Goddard is a very effective consumer advocate, and was a consumer representative on the PBAC; he is well known in Australia as a journalist and AIDS activist. He tried harder than anyone to hold together the remnants of the old committee, but after an industry representative was placed on the PBAC he resigned and became an outspoken critic of the present government and the industry. He has been dropped from all his committee advisory and consulting roles - with no warning or justification. In my case, federal health department officials were ordered to retrieve any documents relating to me. Subsequently, confidential documents were released to a PR company and then to news outlets with an accompanying written commentary that accused me of taking money from a pharmaceutical company and biasing PBAC decisions in favour of that company's products (and against another's). Fortunately, some very good journalists chased down the truth (the story was a complete fabrication and was easily disproved). There has been a systematic campaign in Australia to discredit former members of the Australian PBAC and their supporters. It seems that anyone who makes a stand on issues of equity and fair prices for pharmaceutical products should expect to encounter such tactics. David Henry Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Head of School of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, The University of Newcastle, NSW Phone + 61 249 211856 Fax +61 249 602088 -- Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'. Information and archive [http://satellife.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html](http://satellife.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html) Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'. For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.