Australian Pharma ind asked to fund govt purchasing

The Australian government's decision to reintroduce legislation forcing the pharmaceutical industry to fund the nation's own Pharmaceutical  Benefits Advisory Committee has ben described as "disappointing" by the  drugs trade organization Medicines Australia's chief executive, Ian  Chalmers.

Mr Chalmers said that the government's move to recover the cost of the  PBAC's decision-making was inappropriate and would put at risk access to  new medicines for small patient-population groups.

"We have consistently argued it is fundamentally inappropriate for the  industry to pay for government procurement decision-making. Our view  has not changed one iota over the last three years," Mr Chalmers  stressed.