ABC’s 7.30 Report revealed last night that the upcoming May Budget is likely to include measures that will require doctors and pharmacists to prescribe Australians generic drugs over name brand drugs, in a move that could save the Budget $1.8 billion over five years. However, the rent-seeking Australian Medical Association (AMA) opposes the measure, whereas the Pharmacy Guild supports it, as does the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA):
7.30 understands the Government intends to change the prescribing software used by doctors, with the default setting switched to the active ingredient.
GPs would still be able to prescribe particular brands but under the new “opt out” regime, they would have to actively nominate a drug other than the generic name.
Industry sources said this change — plus a suite of measures to be inked in an agreement between the Government and Medicines Australia before Tuesday’s budget — would save a combined $1.8 billion.
But Health Minister Greg Hunt has told 7.30 that any savings will be ploughed back into the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) by listing new medicines…
Only 58 per cent of all scripts dispensed in Australia are for generic drugs, compared to 84 per cent in the United States, 83 per cent in the United Kingdom, 77 per cent in New Zealand and 70 per cent in Canada.
The Australian Medical Association opposes generic default prescribing.
“Independent clinical decision making and prescribing is something that the AMA holds very dear and very true to our hearts,” AMA vice-president Tony Bartone told 7.30…
The Pharmacy Guild expressed support for generic prescribing.
“Generic substitution policy is good policy for the government,” Pharmacy Guild President George Tambassis told 7.30…
“I think it’s good policy for the patients, so it’s a win-win. It gives the government a little bit more room to actually sustain the PBS and actually gives the patients more choice as well”…
Adjunct Professor Tim Greenaway, the chief medical adviser at the Therapeutic Goods Administration, said increased use of generics and biosimilar alternatives could deliver big savings.
“The role of the TGA which is to ensure the safety, quality and efficacy of medications, is such that when copy products or similar products come onto the market, we assess them to make sure they are equivalent to the reference product, and that the efficacy for patients would be identical,” Professor Greenaway said.
“The bio-similars are cheaper, by and large, and therefore, if there is an increased uptake in the use of these products, compared to the reference products, there is expected to be considerable savings to the health budget – which can then be put into subsidising newer medicines.
This is great move by the federal government that will make the $10 billion PBS more fiscally sustainable without compromising patients’ health one iota.
The fact that the AMA can even oppose this measure is pathetic, and suggests the Association is more concerned with lining doctors’ pockets (via kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies) than making the health system more sustainable.
