Renewed hope for MA MoU
September 8, 2010
YESTERDAY’S long-awaited
resolution of Australia’s electoral
deadlock means that the
pharmaceutical industry has
“reasons to be optimistic” about the
Medicines Australia Memorandum
of Understanding, according to
Datamonitor analyst Lisette
Oversteegen.
The agreement sealed just before
the May budget provided a stable
pricing environment, with no new
policies to generate price-related
savings through to mid-2014 in
return for concessions to help keep
the PBS sustainable.
However the two week postelection
impasse is also likely to
push back the first set of price cuts
under the MoU, which were
originally scheduled for
implementation from 01 Oct.
That will please the Pharmacy
Guild, which urged (PD 24 Aug)
that 01 Mar 2011 would be a more
sensible start date because of the
uncertainty surrounding the
election and the need for the
appropriate legislation to pass both
houses of Parliament.
The MoU hit a hiccup in August
when the elections were called, just
as it was scheduled to progress
through the Senate.
Datamonitor’s Oversteegen said
that despite the delay, “a Labor
government is most likely to put the
MoU into practice relatively
unchanged, which will provide
Australia’s pharmaceutical industry
with the stability it so badly craves.”
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 08 Sep 10To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 08 Sep 10
