13 March 2014.
Today, at the Annual Professional Pharmacy (APP) conference attended by members of the National Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Mr Mark Crotty, Chairman of the Generic Medicines Industry Association (GMiA), called on government to think before irreversible damage occurs to the generic medicines industry in Australia.
Mr Crotty highlighted, “PBS reform is delivering more savings than expected and to avoid inflicting irreversible damage to the generic medicines industry, it is important that there are no more damaging price cuts to generic medicines”.
These unforecasted and unplanned savings are most damaging to the generic medicines sector and disproportionately damage the generic medicines industry model placing at risk a viable generic medicines industry and patient access to medicines. Policy changes are urgently required.
It is imperative that if Australians want a best practice PBS, we should not aim for the ‘cheapest’ scheme or cherry-pick elements from other countries. A best practice PBS provides a stable industry with fair remuneration from the PBS and is an essential foundation for the entire medicines industry in Australia.
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