New report highlights the potential health-system benefits of pharmacist prescribing

“We want to work with the Government to get these policy settings right and at speed so we can give Australia’s biotech, medtech and health tech companies the policy certainty they need to continue to thrive. We just need Government to meet us at the table,” said AusBiotech CEO Rebekah Cassidy.

Omico’s development and growth in precision oncology, recently boosted by significant funding in the 2026-27 Budget, is also producing a substantial library of patient-level data that demonstrates that genomic profiling of tumours changes lives and could reshape how Australia funds and delivers cancer care.

When we recorded this week’s podcast on the history of industry agreements with the Australian Government, we unintentionally focused the discussion on what drives agreements from the Government’s perspective. It might have been a habit.

Kate Vines has been recognised in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours List and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division for significant service to community health through cancer support.

Nobody suggests that the plethora of regular changes to medicine prices, both increases and decreases, including to ensure ongoing subsidised access, undermines or ‘threatens’ the PBS. Governments respond to external realities that impact the PBS almost monthly. If it has to respond to the MFN threat through pricing policies, who cares? Just do it. The more they deny this reality, the harder it will become.

Sandoz has produced a paper from a biosimilar-focused summit it hosted in Canberra in March, including proposals that aim to increase the uptake of biosimilar medicines.

Opthea, once one of Australia's most important emerging biotechnology companies, has announced it will redirect the development of OPT-302 to lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM, a rare pulmonary disease with significant unmet need.

Health Department officials told a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday that they are monitoring the US 'Most Favored Nation' pharmaceutical pricing policy closely, developing responses as necessary, and continue to see a steady stream of submissions and reimbursement outcomes.

Two large statewide trials led by the University of Newcastle have shown that pharmacist-led services can safely and effectively manage uncomplicated urinary tract infections and supply oral contraceptives for women, improving timely access to care and ensuring referral to GPs when clinically required.

Senator David Pocock asked the official for the start date of the three- to six-month timeline, noting that the PBAC recommended earlier reimbursement access for paediatric patients three months ago.

The Marie Krogh Young Women in Science Prize is expanding into New Zealand as it returns for a second year, bringing recognition, funding and networking to early and mid-career women in STEM across Australia and New Zealand.

A minister's assurance that the review was moving to implementation rang hollow after officials cited a postponed, pencilled‑in meeting as evidence that recommendations are already being implemented.

The ethics-approved studies to reword definitions are being overshadowed by an apparently inconsistent approach to stakeholder participation and concern in the medical sector, given its sudden inclusion in a process from which it has largely been excluded.

A subtle but significant shift in Budget practice has emerged in Canberra during Senate Estimates, with Health Department officials confirming the reallocation of $2.7 billion in mostly future-program underspends to other portfolio priorities.

The 2026 Patient's Choice Awards, presented by Patients Australia, will bring together healthcare leaders, clinicians, researchers, patient advocates, carers, policymakers and consumers from across the country for a national celebration of excellence in patient-centred care.

BioPharmaDispatch, also BPDInsights.ai, is publishing an edited version of the information provided to the unidentified participants in the second stage of the Delphi study on the definitions of 'high unmet medical need' and 'high added therapeutic value'. At least this way, those excluded can see its direction.

Recent waves of job losses across the local biopharmaceutical industry probably mask a deeper, systemic decline in Australia’s capacity to participate in the global life‑sciences ecosystem, with worrying implications for national resilience, patient access to innovation, and the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination. Are we at risk of following New Zealand in losing a strategic national capability?

Former Medicines Australia public affairs head, Gail Morgan, has been appointed as the inaugural chief executive officer of the Medicinal Cannabis Council Australia.

Omico has launched a national real-world data initiative built on Australia’s largest prospectively consented precision oncology dataset, comprising more than 20,000 records.

Blood cancers remain a major health burden in Australia. It is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death. Around 20,000 people were diagnosed with blood cancer in 2025, and more than 135,000 Australians now live with blood cancer.