Access to Medicines and Diagnostics in Australia

• disease awareness for patients

• medical education for healthcare professionals

• gaining regulatory approval through the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA)

• reducing costs for patients for our medicines via the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and for our diagnostic tests via the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)
  
  

Ensuring patients have access to healthcare is a shared responsibility requiring many stakeholders to work together.

The PBS and MBS have delivered broad access to medicines and diagnostic tests for generations of Australians, and Roche recognises the importance of their roles. Roche supports the continued reform of these schemes to ensure the value of each medicine and diagnostic test is assessed on a broad range of factors, such as improved health outcomes, productivity gains, healthcare efficiency and addressing an unmet need.

We believe that continued investment in the PBS and MBS needs to be sustainable, and growth should be in line with the economic resources of Australia and the needs of an ageing population.

Roche recognises that patients sometimes need access to medicines outside of the established access pathways, such as for life-threatening diseases with limited approved options or for approved medicines not listed on the PBS or available via public hospitals. We realise that the absence of public funding for a prescribed medicine may represent a significant financial burden and difficult choice for many patients and their families. In situations where there is no public funding, Roche may be able to assist patients with alternative mechanisms of access to medicines, such as providing subsidies. All requests for access in these circumstances must come to Roche via a patient’s treating healthcare professional.