FOI 25-0402 LD – PBS Reference Pricing Policy

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 27 Feb 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

This 2006 fact sheet outlines PBS reforms implemented from August 2007, creating two formularies to manage pharmaceutical costs while maintaining medicine access. Formulary 1 would list single-brand medicines without interchangeable alternatives, while Formulary 2 would contain multiple-brand medicines and interchangeable single-brand products. The reforms addressed patent expirations for over 100 drugs within ten years and encompassed reference pricing changes, pharmacy compensation adjustments, streamlined medicine authority approvals, and establishment of an access to medicines working group. The government aimed to reduce PBS expenditure without increasing patient costs by leveraging generic competition and interchangeability across therapeutic drug classes including ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, calcium channel blockers, H2 receptor antagonists, proton pump inhibitors, and HMG Coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (pravastatin and simvastatin).