Pharmacy Daily | Action needed as patient costs rise

STEPS need to be taken to address out-of-pocket expenses being faced by patients due to medicines shortages, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone, believes.

Tassone said the increased costs faced by patients for medications imported under Serious Shortage Medicines Substitution Notices, which do not receive Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) reimbursements, created barriers to accessing vital treatments for many.

"In situations where all generic brands are unavailable of a medicine, as has recently been the case with sertraline and for certain strengths of blood pressure lowering agent candesartan -- it is unfair that patients are expected to be slugged the brand price premium for the originator brand for matters beyond the control of them and their local pharmacy," he said.

"There are precedents for a temporary waiving of the brand price premium in the case of widespread shortages of generic brands -- but this process from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Department of Health simply must be more responsive and be enacted more quickly so that patients aren't unfairly left more out of pocket than necessary.

"We also need to have a more agile and streamlined way of serious shortage notices to be authorised and issued by the TGA to allow pharmacies to substitute for different strengths or forms of a medicine and maintain PBS subsidies for eligible patients to ensure continuity of care.

"As a continuing member on the TGA Medicine Shortages Working Group, the Guild will continue to advocate in the interests of patients to ensure timely and affordable access to medicines, and this would include a PBS subsidy for eligible patients for imported brands of medications to fill shortfalls of brands that are not available in Australia."

With the COVID-19 pandemic identified as one factor behind the shortages, Tassone told Pharmacy Daily that the increased out-of-pocket cost for patients with chronic health conditions could further exacerbate the health crisis.

"COVID is not solely responsible for our medication shortages issue -- but has merely shone a spotlight on the frustrations and ongoing challenges that prescribers, pharmacies and patients have been faced with for years," he said.

"The last thing we need is to make a pandemic and health crisis worse with patients not being able to access their medication for treatment of potentially serious chronic conditions."