Major brands and biosimilars feature prominently on November PBAC agenda

Professor Andrew Wilson AO, who chaired the Scientific Advisory Committee, said, "They may not entirely replace animal studies in every case, but they can often provide richer, more human‑relevant information. This means we must commit to ongoing, systematic work to keep methods, evidence expectations and review processes up to date."

New Zealand's Pharmac faces a rising tide of demand for new medicines that could swell its Options for Investment list fourfold within two years, a leading patient advocate has warned.

Studies in Australia and new research in the UK have highlighted the success of national HPV vaccination programs, but the importance of sustained high coverage and effective screening.

The idea of Australian government officials roaming the world as global medicine 'pirates' seeking the back-door procurement of privately held intellectual property is asinine nonsense. This country does not have enough available court time and lawyers to manage the consequences of state-sponsored theft.

Dr Marie Guillet, Country President of AstraZeneca Australia and New Zealand, welcomed the registration and framed it as both a clinical and environmental advance.

Managing Director and Group CEO Dr Christian Behrenbruch said, "This performance underscores the strength of our differentiated two-product PSMA imaging strategy and reinforces Telix's market leadership, built on clinical differentiation, supply chain resilience and commercial execution."

Medicines Australia and the Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association are understood to be in active discussions with health department officials over deeds that would impose confidentiality requirements on the associations.

LTR Pharma has taken a major step toward its planned US commercial launch by executing a definitive agreement with Strive Specialties, converting a previously announced binding term sheet into a long-form commercial arrangement for the nationwide supply of its therapy in the United States.

Australian company Actinogen Medical has announced that results from its Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial of XANAMEM (emestedastat) have been published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, reporting meaningful antidepressant activity in a population described as difficult to treat.

The system was faster, with shorter listing times and fewer delays, when the advisory committee had no consumer representatives and received no direct patient input. Why? Because the problem is consistently wrongly diagnosed.

Can the government, its officials, and an advisory committee, whose sole responsibility is the public market, realistically expect companies to compromise or risk their larger, more lucrative private markets for a controlled, less commercially attractive public reimbursement? Is our public payer capable of recognising this reality and of compromise?

Anne Harris rose to national prominence in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic as the leader of the company responsible for the most widely used vaccine and an antiviral treatment.

A very busy week with mostly relief for patients accessing PBS-funded multiple sclerosis medicines, but what does it really mean, and what is the opportunity? Reports and their questionable citations. The most cynical use of language in our health system.

Our health technology assessment institution is not into unconditional surrenders. It habitually buys time to consolidate its position with the goal of revisiting the issue. On the issue of multiple sclerosis medicines, this is what victory looks like in a single-payer system.

Australian company Telix Pharmaceuticals has opened a major facility in North Melbourne that brings radiochemistry laboratories, clinical product manufacturing, patient dose administration and imaging together under one roof.

"This work is also personally significant. My family has been directly impacted by prostate cancer — my father lives with the disease, and the future risk to my three sons is very real," said new board member Allison Rossiter.

We can pay for private insurance to ensure choice and timely access to a hospital surgery, but not prescription medicines. How does that make sense, and how is it equitable when the only alternative is paying the entire cost?

Organon and Samsung Bioepis have extended their existing collaboration, under which Organon will commercialise a new biosimilar in Australia.

"We are entering one of the most exciting periods in Australian arthritis research that we have ever seen," said Arthritis Australia CEO Louise Hardy.