On June 28th, 2023, Asteri CEO, Benet Irish represented the company at the BioMelbourne Network event at ACMI.
The BioForum event titled, ‘From Hospital Beds to Healthy Lives: The Impact of Innovative Medicines’, was sponsored by the State Government of Victoria and included keynote speakers such as Anne-Maree Englund, Head of Strategic Policy Implementation, Medicines Australia, and Professor Frank Lichtenberg, Cain Brothers & Company Professor of Healthcare Management, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Professor Lichtenberg recently released a report about the health and economic benefits of adding more medicines to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (for patients and hospitals).
The report has generated a great deal of conversation at Asteri since it was released, as it supports our fundamental belief that the benefits of bringing new and innovative drugs to Australia far outweighs the costs over time.
It was a privilege to be able to hear Professor Lichtenberg present his findings in person.
The report titled, ‘The Effect of New Medicines Provided by the PBS on Mortality and Hospital Utilisation in Australia, 2002–2019’, assess the effect of long-run changes in the drugs provided by the PBS on mortality and hospital utilisation in Australia.
A summary document of the report released by Medicines Australia can be downloaded here.
The key finding:
Increasing the number of new medicines reduced premature mortality and hospital utilisation.
Between 1992 and 2021, the number of medicines available on the PBS increased by 49%, from 636 to 949
Each additional medicine on the PBS for a disease reduced the Years of Life Lost from the disease before age 85 by approximately 2%
The greater the number of medicines added to the PBS for a disease, the greater the decline in hospital utilisation
Professor Lichtenberg’s report indisputably reinforces the importance of improving choice, access and affordability of new drugs for patients in Australia (and the impact this can also have on driving disease awareness).
But as he was presenting the data in person, Professor Lichtenberg provided valuable context to the numbers and was at pains to put the improvement required into perspective.
When it comes to access to new drugs, Australia currently ranks 26th, globally. America ranks number one.
In one given period that Professor Lichtenberg mentioned, Australia had access to 82 new drugs, while in the same period, America had access to 181 new drugs.
It is fair to suppose that many of drugs that did not make it to Australia were in the field of rare diseases.
Australians deserve more, and it is encouraging to have speakers of the calibre of Professor Lichtenberg being given the opportunity to presenting their findings to an industry determined to change the lives of Australian patients for the better.
At Asteri we are challenging ourselves daily: how do we innovate the system to accommodate the realities of the future?
Most of the new treatments on the horizon do not fit within the current approval/reimbursement system.
So we must rethink our methods of introducing new therapies to market, too,
As Professor Lichtenberg has proven, the benefits of introducing an innovative new product into the Australian market far outweighs the challenges and costs.
If you are looking for a partner to help you do so, we encourage you to get in touch.
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