Posted by Michael Wonder on 03 Nov 2017
Recommendations made by the PBAC - August 2017
3 November 2017 - Additional recommendations made by the PBAC in August 2017 relating to the listing of medicines on the PBS are now available.
The additional recommendations relate to a submission from the Australian Rheumatology Association on the current restrictions for the biological DMARDs for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
The PBAC did not recommend removing the criteria of allowing patients to fail or cease to achieve a response to three biological medicines, and the requirement of a five year break in biological therapy if a patient fails or ceases to respond to three biological medicines for those indications where these criteria apply. The PBAC considered that removal of these criteria may result in continuous cycling of biological medicines, which would in turn likely affect the cost-effectiveness and utilisation of these medicines.
