LATEST NEWS
Health Department admits GLP-1s improving Australia’s health with reductions in NDSS registrations
27 October 2026
The Department of Health Disability and Ageing released its 2025-26 Annual Report today. The Report included data that showed the number of Australians registered for the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) fell by 25,160 users (3.34%) in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25. The Department noted that:
“Reduced clinical need for products, where changes in an individual’s clinical circumstances reduce their need for [NDSS] products to manage their condition. This may reflect improved diabetes management and prevention, including the expanded use of GLP-1 inhibitors and the positive impact of public health programs.
The expanded use of GLP-1 inhibitors and the success of public health programs may be contributing to lower demand for NDSS products. At present, there is insufficient data to determine the extent to which these potential factors have influenced the need for NDSS products.”
Meanwhile with Nostradata reporting that 1.6M Australians are paying privately for access to GLP-1s, the PBAC’s recommendations for access on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is now severely languishing behind the Department’s contemporary views.
With the Government admitting for the first time they can potentially see a link between self-funded access to GLP-1s and better health outcomes, it is time they went back to the table with the medicine providers and hashed out a pricing solution that is fair to the industry and fair to the taxpayer to get these medicines on the PBS. If we can see changes in our health system pressures already, we can link that PBS funding to the achievement of broader health outcomes.
Access BAA media release here.
DHDA release PBS net forecasts for the next five years
26 October 2026
The Department of Health Disability and Ageing (DHDA) has made transparent the net forecasts for the PBS over the next five years in a recent FOI (Page 17 refers). This is something patients, the parliament and the broader sector have been seeking for years to better understand the expected cost of the PBS and RPBS in order better understand the investment government is making, and the capacity for future investment. Access DHDA FOI document here.
Better Access Australia has written to the Minister, interested senators and members and the parliament to make this transparency in reporting permanent. Access BAAs letter to the Minister here.
We thank the Department for taking this step to improve transparency and look forward to it being a permanent fixture in PBS reporting. If transparency of the PBS matters to you, please consider joining us in writing to the Minister and Parliament to make this change permanent.
BAA encourages patients to complete GBMA Patient Engagement Survey
23 October 2026
BAA encourages patients to complete the Generic and Biosimilar Medicine Association’s (GBMA) Patient Engagement Survey.
GBMA want to hear what matters most to patients when it comes to accessing medicines in Australia.
Your feedback will provide a better understanding of patient experiences and priorities.
By taking part, you can help make sure the patient voice is part of the conversation.
Scan QR code to complete
Basic errors in The Conversation article How drug companies are playing hardball with Australia’s PBS
22 July 2026
Better Access Australia have written to the editors The Conversation seeking the immediate removal of selectively quoted and inaccurate portrayals of comments made by the authors in the article How drug companies are playing hardball with Australia’s PBS. In this article the authors selectively quote the Chair of Better Access Australia, Ms Felicity McNeill PSM, in relation to Australia's PBS spend. The authors then go on to quote incorrect figures as to Australia's actual PBS spend claiming that this is not 'charity'. However, they have not quoted PBS figures, instead they have relied on OECD figures that relate to public and private expenditure of health care products, which includes spending on band aids, vitamins and condoms. A basic and serious error.
Using the Australian Government source document, The PBS Expenditure Report for 2024-25 (the latest data publicly available - https://www.pbs.gov.au/statistics/expenditure-prescriptions/expenditure-prescriptions-report-1-july-2024-30-june-2025), the gross (public and private co-contribution) spend on the PBS was $19.1B. Table 1 on page 2 shows that net Government PBS spend is $12.557B. Pharmacy dispensing fees ($4.809B) and wholesale markups ($617M) (Tables on page 48) need to be subtracted as these do not relate to the price paid to companies for medicines. Hence, the actual Government spend on medicines is $10.131B. Using an Australian population figure of 28M, the per capita expenditure was $361.82 , which is 71% lower than the figure quoted in the article. This significant factual error undermines the authors' argument, and justifies BAA Chair’s previous media statements.
The authors' description of PBS pricing processes was also inaccurate, in that the mechanism by which prices are set and adjusted for PBS listed medicines missed crucial steps, such as risk share arrangements, that impact the commercial viability of PBS listings. Unlike the authors who have an outsiders understanding of the system, BAAs Chair ran the PBS within the Department of Health for 5 years and was involved in numerous pricing negotiations.
The references to parallel imports, other specialised medicine programs, and the theft of company IP, for the supposed "greater good", further emphasise a lack of legal and regulatory knowledge on the operation of Australian law and medicine markets, and for these reasons alone the article should be removed.
Given the significant factual inaccuracies in this article, Better Access Australia has requested The Conversation immediately remove the article. Better Access Australia has also request that a note be issued clarifying that the previous content had been removed due to factual inaccuracies and an apology issued to BAA and our Chair for these errors.