Review caves in to pressure

In an abrupt about-face, the National Medicines Policy Review team has reversed a decision to keep the submissions it received under wraps - but the move has been branded too little, too late.

After a campaign spearheaded by consumer advocacy group Better Access Australia (BAA) calling for transparency, 120 of 156 submissions were published on the Department of Health website on Friday. Fourteen of the published group came from major pharmacos plus one from Medicines Australia.

The cave-in came after BAA published a swathe of submissions provided by patients, industry groups and companies demanding across-the-board transparency.