Budget discipline tightens with agencies directed to target 'lowest priority work'

We unpack the AI Health Summit. The practical reality of the proposed ban on genetic testing for life insurance, the self-limiting nature of Australia’s health reform processes, and the absence of any genuine patient-centred purpose in current settings.

CSL secured rights to MSD's vaccines in Australia and New Zealand as part of an agreement negotiated in the 1990s under which the US company gained global development and commercialisation rights to the investigative candidate that became GARDASIL.

The listing marks a step forward for thousands of people whose lives are shaped by recurring painful lumps, abscesses and scarring. These symptoms can be severe enough to disrupt work, relationships and daily living.

Five Australians who have dedicated themselves to supporting people living with HIV have been recognised as the 2025 Community Champions, an annual program celebrating the leadership and advocacy that continue to shape Australia’s HIV response.

Australia’s hospital and advanced pharmacy workforce is under intensifying strain, with widening shortages, fragile training pipelines and growing inequities in access to essential clinical pharmacy services, according to a landmark national report released today by Advanced Pharmacy Australia.

Australia now has its first national estimate of how many people are living with metastatic breast cancer, following the release of a landmark Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report that fills a longstanding and widely acknowledged data gap in cancer care.

New Zealand's Pharmac has announced that, from 1 March 2026, all funded HIV medicines will be available for dispensing in three-month quantities, up from the current one-month supply.

Algorae Pharmaceuticals has announced a new distribution agreement that will see capecitabine supplied in Australia from as early as December.

This external perspective matters because it exposes a truth that insiders have inadvertently normalised. Australia is trapped in a highly technical, self-referential, and fiercely procedural approach to HTA, without agreement on a philosophical foundation to guide decision-making.

In an outcome that could reverberate across the globe, including Australia and New Zealand, reports suggest that the UK is close to an agreement with the US on raising its cost-effectiveness threshold for reimbursing innovative medicines, effectively agreeing to pay more for new therapies.

The US Trump administration has announced new pricing outcomes for 15 medicines funded by major government programs, securing what officials describe as an average net reduction of 44 per cent, equivalent to US$12 billion, compared to what the programs paid for the treatments in 2024.

CEO for Pharmacy and Compounding, Russell Hill, said the organisation’s latest research output is a natural extension of the culture Slade has built over generations.

What emerged during a conversation with BioPharmaDispatch was Michael Oberreiter's striking mix of admiration for Australia’s strengths and concern about its future access to health innovation and the potential broader implications.

Dr Ana Svensson, Vice President of Clinical, Medical and Regulatory for Novo Nordisk Oceania, said the prize is an investment in scientific leadership and health impact.

Sanofi’s Head of Pharma for Australia and New Zealand, Liz Selby, praised Breakthrough T1D for “shining a light on the significant and far-reaching impact of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis” and said the company supports general population screening.

MSCAN Founder and CEO Tamara Dawson said, “We are immensely proud to lead this work, and are calling on governments, clinicians, researchers, industry and communities to work together and address the gaps the scorecard has highlighted to reduce the burden of skin cancer and save lives.”

Asthma continues to claim hundreds of Australian lives each year, with new national data revealing 478 deaths in 2024. a figure virtually unchanged from the previous year.

The authors, including Queensland-based academics and health officials, argue that although enthusiasm is high, the successful adoption of AI will require a more deliberate, structured and risk-aware approach.

Sanofi will become the inaugural tenant of the Translational Research Institute’s new biomanufacturing hub, ENTRI, in Brisbane. The move is being hailed as a significant milestone for Queensland’s ambitions to build a whole, end-to-end translational science and manufacturing ecosystem.