Anne Harris steps down after defining leadership during COVID and lasting impact on Medicines Australia

This single paragraph provides significant insight into internal priorities. It confirms that, as of 2025, Health officials were actively developing options to revise statutory price-reduction mechanisms to align them with changes to the NMFG. The nature of these changes, however, remains protected via redactions. The justifications for the redactions provide useful insights.

This article is the final in a series examining the 2005 Cabinet documents, released on 1 January 2026, and their long shadow over Australian health policy. Of particular significance is what they reveal about the evolution of PBS reform and the clear lessons they provide for 2026.

Avendran Naidu, Country Manager of Neuraxpharm Australia, acknowledged the significance of the PBS listing. “MS is a lifelong condition that places a significant burden on individuals and families."

It follows MFN agreements between the Trump administration and Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech (Roche), Gilead, GSK, MSD, Novartis, and Sanofi.

Australian biotechnology company Vaxxas has appointed former MSD Global Vaccines President David Peacock as Chief Executive Officer.

Some readers lament this publication's attention to history. But in a system marked by institutional intransigence, history offers the clearest lessons about the direction of future policy and how the system predictably responds to demands for change. Put simply, if you're serious about reform, you must be serious about history.

Stakeholders often assume their engagement with Health Department officials reflects a binary policy process. The Cabinet documents reveal something far more complex. Engagement with stakeholders is only one input into broader, usually opaque, cross‑government deliberations that ultimately shape outcomes.

Newly released Cabinet documents from 2005 reveal a program on the verge of transition, with changes to PBS pricing, the first step towards generational reform, the defenestration of an advisory committee, the creation of a special payment program for wholesalers, and a significant victory for community pharmacies.

As we end 2025, the latest outcome reveals the profound and worsening flaws in our institutional HTA framework. We need to consider the enduring implications of denying patients access to funded innovation, how those denials serve the institution's interests, and whether we are willing to accept the harms they entail.

What makes these proposals especially consequential for Australia is that the country is explicitly identified as one of the international comparator countries CMS intends to use when constructing the global benchmark.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) delivered a wide-ranging set of recommendations at its November 2025 meeting, including vaccines and a much-anticipated therapy for obesity.

Dave Pearce, General Manager Oceania, said, “There is an ongoing need for additional treatment options for people living with psoriasis in Australia."

Australia’s long-awaited Health Technology Assessment reforms will not only change how some medicines are evaluated, but also how the evaluation system is funded.

The update does not directly acknowledge broader stakeholder concerns about decision-making, including delays in issuing recommendations and in accessing innovative medicines.

“We heard from many people, and we’ve listened carefully,” said Adrienne Martin, Pharmac’s Director of Pharmaceuticals. “People understood our goal, but they were clear they did not want applications removed from the OFI.”

Rare Cancers Australia has officially launched its preparations for the 2026 Kosi Challenge, inviting walkers and mountain lovers from across the country to take on Mount Kosciuszko next March in support of Australians affected by rare and less common cancers.

Priceline Pharmacy, owned by Wesfarmers, has moved to reassure customers and franchise partners as one of its largest franchise groups, Infinity Pharmacy Group, enters receivership and voluntary administration after years of mounting financial pressure.

A new antimalarial drug candidate developed through a long-running collaboration between Melbourne’s WEHI and MSD is showing promise in the fight against malaria, particularly as resistance to existing treatments continues to spread.