Labor to slash medicine prices amid looming US tariff threat

Labor will slash the prices of common medicines despite US tariff threats, with millions of Australians to benefit. See the list.

Clare Armstrong

@ByClare

2 min read

July 29, 2025 - 5:00AM

National News Network

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EXCLUSIVE: Millions of Australians with severe pain, asthma or menopause will be the big winners under Labor’s plan to slash essential medicines to $25 a script, as Health Minister Mark Butler vows to defend the subsidy scheme from US threats.
Despite the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) drawing the ire of American drug giants and uncertainty around US President Donald Trump’s threat to hit medicines with a 200 per cent tariffs, the Albanese Government has ploughed ahead with a bill to cut a further $6.60 off common scripts from January 1.

Health Minister Mark Butler says the PBS is not up for negotiation as Labor forges ahead with plans to cut prices to $25. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

It can be revealed the ten most prescribed drugs to be made more affordable under the changes include painkiller Oxycodone, for which more than 1.1 million scripts are written each year, and the menopause drug Estradiol, which has about 1.07 million scripts.
The 1.7 million annual scripts written for the asthma drugs Symbicort and Adavair, 860,000 scripts for stroke prevention drug Eliquis and Jardiance used for Type 2 diabetes, heart failure or chronic kidney disease will also be slashed to $25 each.

Several asthma drugs will be no more than $25 a script on the PBS. Picture: Istock

New figures also show in the two years since Labor’s initial cuts to PBS medicines and the introduction of 60-day dispensing, Australians have saved more than $1.5 billion, including $488m in NSW, $403m in Victoria, $312 in Queensland and $116m in South Australia.
The dramatic reduction risks further inflaming US drug manufacturers urging Mr Trump to target the PBS, but Mr Butler said the PBS was “not up for negotiation”.
“The Albanese Government is delivering on our promise to continue to make medicines cheaper for Australians,” he said.
Earlier this month Mr Trump signalled he would impose hefty tariffs on medical imports within the next two years if manufacturing was not moved to America, appearing to frontrun a process being conducted by the US Department of Commerce.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also defended the PBS saying it will not form part of US trade talks. Picture: NewsWire/Philip Gostelow

Australia exports more than $2 billion in pharmaceuticals to the US, of which about 90 per cent is blood products.
Sources familiar with the process underway believe Mr Trump may have received an early summary or briefing and expect more detail will not be made available until the department’s report is completed.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley said the Coalition was “likely to agree” with Labor’s bill to reduce the cost of PBS scripts to $25.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia national president Trent Twomey said the last time subsidised scripts cost $25 was in 2004, and without the recent cuts medicines would have reached $50 by January under the normal indexation rate.

“So 20 million Australians would have been paying up to $50 for essential medicines like insulin for their diabetes, next generation blood thinners … medication for your child’s ADHD, or even most importantly the injection for prevention of osteoporosis,” he said.
“More often than not people were born with these chronic diseases, and they are not discretionary items.”
Asthma Australia chief Kate Miranda said the cheaper medicines would mean “less financial pressure, better adherence to treatment and fewer available flare-ups” for patients.