Pharmacy Daily | PBS no political play thing: McBride

FEDERAL Health Minister, Greg Hunt, is being accused of politicising the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)" by announcing new listings to gain attention.

Pharmacist turned Australian Labor Party MP, Emma McBride (pictured), proposed a motion calling on the House of Representatives to note that 20 drugs that have been recommended for listing by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) "will never list on the PBS because pricing negotiations with the manufacturers have broken down".

"I move this motion because, as a pharmacist - the only pharmacist in this place - I am dismayed by the Minister for Health's shameless politicisation of the PBS by spruiking the listing of new drugs and then claiming the credit," she said.

"It occurred again this weekend with the long overdue listing of Symdeko, seven months after it was approved.

"It is my view that a PBS listing---that is, the subsidising of a medicine---should not be turned into a political stunt or self-promotion event.

"Listings are in the interest of public health and they matter. They should not be reduced to a photo opportunity for a political agenda.

"When I gave notice of this motion in early Sep we were aware of some 20 medications that had not been listed, despite having been recommended by the PBAC.

"Since then the PBAC has made public its recommendations from the Jul meeting, which took the total number of drugs waiting to be listed by Minister Hunt to almost 60.

"These are drugs that have been recommended for listing by the independent experts, the PBAC, because they stack up on both clinical and cost grounds.

"The minister's failure to act on PBAC recommendations to list medications in a timely manner or to list them at all is not the only barrier to Australians accessing affordable medicines.

"The minister can't spruik drug listings and claim the credit for them.

"It's not okay."