Health advocates and industry leaders alike in Australia are almost universally alarmed by the recent and continued hold ups in the PBS. These delays are creating challenges that must be addressed. Elizabeth de Somer, CEO of Medicines Australia, emphasized that patients could die while waiting for vital medications to be approved for the PBS. What changed to exacerbate the circumstances? All external pressures, such as the pandemic and inflation, created a perfect storm. Threatened punitive tariffs on pharmaceuticals by former U.S. president Donald Trump would further restrict Australians’ access to life-saving medicines.
Christine Cockburn, CEO of Rare Cancers Australia, illuminated an alarming blind spot. As a result, some patients are forced to withdraw from their superannuation just to afford medications that prevent them from dying. She explained that what these actions show is how broken the system really is. This is outrageous! Australians are being denied a far swifter route to access life-saving, life-changing medicines,” she said. And that’s just not good enough.
Current Challenges and Tariff Threats
In March, American pharmaceutical manufacturers lobbied Trump to slap punitive tariffs on their Australian counterparts. In short, they painted the PBS as an “egregious and discriminatory” program that undercuts U.S. exports. Most recently, Trump has indicated that pharmaceuticals should be targeted for tariffs beginning at 25%. These tariffs could climb all the way to 250%, hitting one of Australia’s top export categories. Even last year, Australia exported a booming $2.2 billion in pharmaceutical products to the U.S. This figure represented about 40% of the country’s total pharmaceutical exports.
The Albanese government is walking the talk, working with industry to protect Australia from tariff risk. Simultaneously, it is addressing the critical need for reform within the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Health Minister Mark Butler stated, “The Albanese government is continuing to make medicines available to Australian patients faster and cheaper.” He continued, “Patients expect more immediate access to the latest innovative medicine and treatments. This shows the government’s commitment to move forward with the recommendations from the HTA review.
Recommendations for Reform
That last thorough audit of the PBS — in 30 years — was delivered to the federal government last year. This review offered a clear set of recommendations designed to cut through red tape, empowering patients to get on the road to recovery sooner. De Somer suggested that by following these recommendations, the government could negotiate better with the U.S. while still protecting the PBS.
In her remarks, de Somer expressed urgency: “Patients will die waiting for new medicines to be listed.” She cautioned that the implications of failing to resolve these matters can go far beyond what is presently realized. “And this will have a much bigger impact on the Australian system than anything else,” she added.
As he welcomed the group, Prof Andrew Wilson observed the palpable hunger for change in the room. As he put it, “I don’t think there’s anybody involved in this process that doesn’t want to see this happen faster. This feeling highlights the second reality, which is a broader sense of frustration among stakeholders that the reform is moving too slowly.
The Human Cost of Delays
The implications of these delays are far-reaching. Cockburn powerfully illustrated the truly heartbreaking situation so many patients are now facing. They learn to fight for access to life-saving treatments that can cost $100,000s of dollars. We’ve all seen people crowdfund their medical bills. This process lays bare their economic distress and dehumanizes them in the process. Crowdfunding is an established phenomenon in cancer treatment spaces, Cockburn said. “Almost always, that leads to a profound loss of dignity.”
She pointed out that patients are forced to take out remortgages on their homes. They go so far as to raid superannuation funds, originally not intended for this purpose at all. Implicitly, their most popular product to tap into is their superannuation, which was never the purpose. Or sometimes they decide to refinance their homes,” Whelan said. This shocking trend is no longer sustainable and urgently calls for major reforms in the PBS system.
The Path Forward
House and Senate negotiations over the PBS’s fate and new tariffs on imported bicycles rumbled on. The government now needs to act quickly to ensure the recommendations from the HTA review are implemented. Butler remains buoyed by the demonstrable progress that has been made. He avers, “This is precisely why our government is progressing through the recommendations of the HTA review…we want Australians to be able access the best medicines and therapies sooner, at a price Australians and the community are prepared to pay.”
With mounting pressure both domestically and internationally, the health sector is calling for an urgent overhaul of the PBS process to ensure that Australians have timely access to life-saving medications.
