From constitutional promise to creaking system - the PBS at 80

Most Australians are open to taking part in clinical trials, yet most say the topic has never come up with their doctor, according to new research presented at the Australian Public Health Conference this week.

Josie Downey, Managing Director of Merck Healthcare Australia and New Zealand, said the findings reveal a disconnect between hopes and understanding.

The survey, commissioned by Ipsen, found that Australians are far more likely to link persistent fatigue to everyday factors than to a liver condition.

Two consecutive years of recovery have failed to lift Australia's flu vaccination effort back to 2023 levels, let alone to where health authorities want it.

Novo Nordisk has unveiled a rebrand that shortens its public name to Novo, saying "people are engaging with their health in new and different ways" and that "healthcare must become more responsive, more relevant and easier to fit into everyday life."

Telix Pharmaceuticals has secured landmark approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration for Pixclara, making it the first FDA-sanctioned imaging agent for glioma, the most common form of brain cancer.

Six patients who had lived with binge eating disorder for as long as two decades sat down for two infusions of an experimental psychedelic drug. Three months later, all of them were still doing better. Half of them had not binged once.

AusBiotech has welcomed concessions to changes to the R&D Tax Incentive and Capital Gains Tax but remains concerned about the potential impact on emerging life sciences companies.

According to the document released in response to a Freedom of Information request, the firm held 24 active contracts with the department, worth a combined $37.3 million as at 22 May 2026.

As health spokesperson, Stephenson has been a visible advocate for ACT's 'Closing the Medicines Gap' policy, released in July, that commits the party to a significant increase in Pharmac funding.

Australians living with a rare genetic form of motor neurone disease will gain access to an innovative treatment from 1 October, with the reimbursement of Biogen's QALSODY (tofersen).

This week, we mark a significant anniversary, discuss the risks of missing the opportunity that artificial intelligence offers to speed access to healthcare, and explore why some might be reluctant to embrace it. The wonderful irony of the phrase of the week.

The United States is marking an important legislative milestone that unlocked university-led innovation, while some in Australia still maintain that the government deserves pricing consideration for commercialised products that may have received some funding support in the distant past.

In a further expansion of pharmacists' role, the government announced a new care trial that will let participating pharmacists treat ear infections, provide wound care, and help manage chronic conditions including hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Why does a submission drafted with AI assistance, assessed by an evaluator using AI assistance, and discussed by committee members who each turned to different tools to prepare, still have to land on the same calendar date it always did?

Two accounts of how the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee weighs patient and clinician voices arrived within weeks of each other, and they do not sit comfortably together.

After twelve years steering the Private Cancer Physicians of Australia through some of the most consequential fights in Australian cancer policy, Christopher Steer has handed the presidency to Cameron McLaren.

A Sydney company has become the first in Australia to earn a manufacturing licence for viral vectors, a milestone it says strengthens the nation's capacity to make advanced gene and cell therapies at home rather than relying on overseas suppliers.

We live in a wealthy country where this situation has been allowed to persist. Responsibility is not shared equally. Those with the authority to design, operate and change the system carry a greater obligation than the rest of us.