Government loses control
March 8, 2012
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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