Pharmacy Daily | Government loses control

THE Government has lost control over supply of taxpayer funded PBS drugs, according to Professor Ian Harper of Deloitte Access Economics. Addressing delegates at this week’s APP Conference, Harper criticised the Federal Govt over its failure to act on Pfizer’s direct distribution decision, saying it had reneged on its commitment to its people. “The Government has an obligation to ensure that patients have access to essential medicines,” said Harper. “The Government must explain why it has failed to meet this obligation and allow a key element of National Medicines Policy to be compromised,” he added. Pfizer’s direct distribution decision, according to Harper, now threatens the viability of the Community Service Obligation agreement, whereby the Govt subsidises wholesalers in return for guaranteed delivery of any PBS medicine anywhere in Australia within 24 hours. “While CSO distributors guarantee the timely and reliable delivery of PBS medicines, Pfizer has given no equivalent undertaking,” he said. “Health Minister Plibersek is allowing a double standard in the distribution of PBS medicines to go unchecked,” he added. This double standard of distribution, according to Harper, means that “some medicines are delivered to Government standards and others are delivered to a lower standard set by a manufacturer”. “We also have a situation where taxpayers’ dollars are being used to fund timely distribution of some but not all medicines on the PBS,” he said. Harper was also critical of the Govt’s failure to establish any mechanism to measure the impact of direct distribution on access to PBS drugs and patient health. The Health Minister Plibersek’s argument that Pfizer’s decision was a commercial move and was “outside the responsibility of Government”, and that the Govt had not yet received any evidence that direct distribution caused any patient harm or diminished access, was also called into question by Harper. “The onus of proof that exclusive supply is delaying access to medicine and inconveniencing patients shouldn’t rest with pharmacists or their customers, but with the Government,” he said. “If the Government pays for PBS medicines, it has an obligation to all Australians to also regulate when, where and how those medicines are supplied to pharmacies and patients. “This is fundamental to a coherent medicines policy,” he added. Looking to the future Harper said that the CSO would be weakened further if other manufacturers were to follow in Pfizer’s footsteps. Speaking to pharmacists, Harper said best way to guarantee the viability of the CSO and the timely and reliable supply of drugs across the nation is for pharmacists to require “all PBS medicines to be available through CSOaccredited distributors”.

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