PBS spending hits 25-year low

A frank pre-budget submission by Pfizer shows PBS spending has hit a 25-year low and lifts the lid on practices used by the Federal Government to put the screws on medicine funding.

The submission is the final for Pfizer Managing Director Anne Harris, who is leaving the company, and contains six recommendations along with some blunt truths for the Government.

It highlights a decline in real spending on the PBS and points to the increasing use of risk sharing arrangements (RSAs) as a means of cost containment. One recommendation calls for RSAs to be used only when there is genuine uncertainty, adding the percentage of the rebate applied should reflect the risk and all rebates should be reinvested in the PBS.