Budget cuts to limit new medicines, doctors warn

DOCTORS say restrictions on new medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will make it harder for patients to get the drugs they need.

DOCTORS say restrictions on the number of new medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will make it harder for patients to get the drugs they need.

Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce has called on the Gillard government to explain its budget savings measure to defer new listings on the $8.3 billion PBS.

"In the past they have followed the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, which is very careful with its advice, usually in the past ministers have tended to rubber stamp PBAC rulings," Mr Pesce said.

"There are mechanisms set up for proper expert advice to the minister about what drugs should be listed under PBS.

"If the minister then turns around and decides not to go ahead with it, what decision is that based on? Who is advising the minister?"

Dr Pesce said it was crucial that medicines were not rationed on the basis of cost.

The pharmaceutical lobby group was sharply critical of the government's decision to defer the listing of six new drugs recommended for subsidy by the government's drug advisory agency.

Medicines Australia chief executive Brendan Shaw said the government had gone against the advice of its own expert committee by not listing the new drugs.

"All of these drugs were recommended by the government's Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee which rigorously evaluates the medicines that companies submit for listing on the PBS, taking into account both the clinical and economic benefits," he said.

"The PBAC seems to have been superseded, which raises questions about the independence of the process.

"It seems like cabinet has gone against expert advice for financial reasons. This is what happens when the bean counters in finance make the decisions, rather than the government's own expert committee."

Health Minister Nicola Roxon defended the government's decision not to list six new drugs last month, saying the Gillard government had to consider the cost to the budget.

"The government has to make a decision, especially on every decision that has financial implications, taking account of all of the circumstances, and having done that we've made a decision that a number of medicines won't be listed at this time," she said at the time.

The drugs hit by the delay in PBS subsidies include Invega Sustenna, which is used to treat schizophrenia, the chronic pain drug Targin, Botox to treat severe sweating, the prostate drug Duodart and the lung disease drug Symbicort.