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Patrys (ASX:PAB) has completed the acquisition of Reliis, marking a significant milestone in the company’s strategy to broaden its clinical-stage therapeutic pipeline with a differentiated, lower-risk asset.

A new report on the state of the UK life sciences sector is attracting attention among pharmaceutical companies globally, with many of the challenges it identifies closely resembling those faced in Australia.

Strip away the mythology and focus on who actually pays. Australian households fund a larger slice of the system directly than American households do, even if US patients often pay more in absolute dollars.

Australians are no longer relying on a single source for health guidance, nor do they expect any one actor to meet the full spectrum of their health needs. Instead, they are navigating a decentralised ecosystem that blends doctors, peers, online search, social media, podcasts, newsletters and content creators.

Novo Nordisk’s newly launched oral formulation of WEGOVY (semaglutide) has reportedly launched in the United States with a notably strong early sales performance.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have jointly welcomed the recognition of pharmacists in the 2026 Australia Day Honours.

A pharmaceutical company could fund the creation of an app to promote gambling, alcohol, unhealthy processed food, with claims that an ersatz dairy spread can reduce cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease, and missile systems. It would be entirely lawful. However, it could not lawfully promote its approved therapeutic products on the app, while virtually everyone else is free to discuss them.

In the first 2026 episode of Dispatched, we discuss perceptions, Australian health policy, highlighting newly accessible 2005 Cabinet papers and what they reveal about PBS reforms, generic pricing, pharmacy agreements and the influence of central agencies like Finance. They warn that today’s reviews, statutory pricing and cost-recovery debates must be viewed as an interconnected agenda. 

That emphasis was reinforced by AusBiotech Chief Executive Rebekah Cassidy, who highlighted the role of structured engagement in lifting the collective voice of the sector.

NERLYNX is being made available in Thailand by an Australian-headquartered company, Specialised Therapeutics, under an exclusive licensing arrangement. The therapy was approved by the TGA in 2019 but is not reimbursed via the PBS.

New Zealanders living with cystic fibrosis are a step closer to broader and more effective treatment options following a provisional reimbursement agreement between Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Pharmac.

In the final article in this week’s series on the transforming Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, we turn to a risk that increasingly shapes how the PBS is debated and understood. The challenge of recency bias.