Are you prescribed medication in Australia? Possible shortages upcoming

[Mr Blonde]

Hello all,

On 1 April of next year the federal government is going to be forcing price reductions on some medications. The effect that this will have is that pharmacies will start buying less in the months leading up to that date and manufacturers will start producing smaller supplies of these drugs. Pharmacists should be starting to warn people who are regularly prescribed medication that there may be shortages, and if a medication you take is on this list you may want to discuss it with your local pharmacist or speak to your doctor about obtaining a larger amount so that you have little hassle.

Attached is a PDF file with the complete list. Those highlighted are major drugs that are likely to have price reductions and have supplies reduced in the lead up to April.

View attachment April 2012 Drug list.pdf

 

[opi8]

This appears to be good news, for next year at least. Codeine with Paracetamol and Morphine are listed, but no Oxycodone? Bummer that Naltrexone doesn't have a 23% price reduction guarantee.

I only see 2 drugs highlighted in yellow, Clopidogrel and Risperidone, not the 12 it says in the column header. Am I missing something?

 

[Divine Moments]

Thanks for the heads up, where'd did you get the info? Sounds like a typical tunnel-visioned plan without adequate consideration for flow-on effects... May be good in the end but that's fucked up if people can't get their meds because of shit like this

 

[Mr Blonde]

Thanks for the heads up, where'd did you get the info?

Keep this on BL but... I own Pfizer. Yep. That's it.

I only see 2 drugs highlighted in yellow, Clopidogrel and Risperidone, not the 12 it says in the column header. Am I missing something?

I think they have made a mistake and that all the greyed items are at risk of major price reductions and hence at greater risk of being short. I'll try and follow up on that tomorrow, thanks for pointing it out.

Sounds like a typical tunnel-visioned plan without adequate consideration for flow-on effects... May be good in the end but that's fucked up if people can't get their meds because of shit like this

Let me share a secret with you (and by proxy everyone who reads this thread). No body understands exactly how the PBS works. Ask most pharmacists about what the F2T formulary category is and they will only give you a vague answer. Even the public servants running the PBS don't fully understand the mechanics and how the government makes it's decisions regarding how prices are going to be set in regards to this. Right now, the situation mainly has to do with certain drugs coming off patent and companies making price disclosures to the PBS about decreased costs in manufacturing drugs.

Years ago, the manufacturers used to just supply discounted drugs to certain pharmacies they liked and everyone else had to pay the right price or not get as good a discount. The forced the government to step in and demand that if the manufacturers could discount by this amount to these pharmacies, they could discount that amount to the government as well to reduce the costs of the PBS. Since then, there has been heavy regulation of the system and a huge increase in the bureaucracy.

Though these discounts will eventually be good for the end consumer, they aren't that good for community pharmacies and that sector is already struggling as is.

 

[DeathDomokun]

Thanks for this Mr. Blonde