With just nine days remaining for stakeholders to submit their feedback on the Health Technology Assessment Review options paper, patients must have access to all pertinent information.
BioPharmaDispatch interviewed Medicines Australia chief executive and reference committee member Liz de Somer on 31 January. The interview was published on 1 February. Medicines Australia approved all included quotes.
The association now appears reluctant to answer questions about its approach to the review's options paper. This reluctance is compounded by a general lack of transparency and secrecy regarding the conduct of a review that has long-term implications for major Australian public health programs.
The importance of this process to patients goes beyond the needs of any individual or organisation. BioPharmaDispatch encourages the release of all pertinent information.
To assist patients and other stakeholder groups in providing feedback on the options paper, BioPharmaDispatch is publishing the unedited interview recording, which was on the record, to enable a broader understanding of the discussion and the industry's approach to the review.
You will hear an honest and, at times, uncomfortable discussion about the review that reveals the challenges confronting reference committee members whose contributions are covered by non-disclosure agreements. With just nine days to go, listeners and particularly patients might contemplate whether this 'privileged' secrecy approach to policy-making is appropriate for our public health programs.
We understand that Medicines Australia also recorded the interview and would encourage the association to release their recording. This would confirm the unedited veracity of this recording.
