Medicines Australia and medicines industry representatives have appeared before the Senate Inquiry into the availability of new, innovative and specialist cancer drugs in Australia, calling for improvements to create an optimised, modern, and flexible system to ensure access to cancer medicines for Australians.

“Our ability to treat cancer is now far in advance of the system that was designed some time ago, arguably twenty years ago, to provide access to treatments,” Mr Tim James, CEO of Medicines Australia said in his opening statement to the Senate Committee. “New, innovative and specialised medicines are a key driver of increases in patient survival, but the waiting time to list cancer medicines on the PBS is taking too long.”

“In fact, Australian patients wait six months longer for access to cancer medicines than other types of medicines, and on average 1.6 years from TGA registration to PBS listing. We believe cancer patients, namely the one in two Australians who will develop cancer during their lifetime, deserve better.”

For more details, go to: https://medicinesaustralia.com.au/media-release/industry-calls-for-reform-at-cancer-medicines-inquiry/