Generic Medicines Working Group (GMWG) Communique - 19 July 2016
Page last updated: 20 September 2016
The fourth meeting of the GMWG was held in Sydney on 19 July 2016. The GMWG is scheduled to meet three times a year with work to be progressed out of session by the respective sub-groups.
Attendees
Attendees included co-Chairs: Mr Allan Tillack, Chair of Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (GBMA) and Mr Andrew Stuart, Deputy Secretary, Department of Health. Representatives of the GBMA, and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Division, Department of Health were also in attendance.
Purpose
To reconvene and update the GMWG on progress against the four policy priorities, in particular the work of the Pricing Policy, Supply and Viability sub-group.
The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the 1 October prices following the removal of originator brands from price disclosure calculations for medicines meeting the relevant criteria. It was also an opportunity for GBMA to present the findings of economic modelling conducted to understand the impact of biosimilar uptake drivers on Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) expenditure.
Outcomes
The GMWG discussed the recent data collection and analysis process conducted by the Department, to gain an understanding of industry’s concerns about price viability. Both parties expressed the desire to ensure that the price disclosure policy was administered in a manner that maintains supply of important medicines.
GBMA expressed continuing concern about ongoing viability for medicines in F2. GBMA identified a number of initiatives its members believe would support the viability of the generic medicines sector, and requested they be discussed at the upcoming sub-group meetings.
The group also agreed to discuss the biosimilar uptake model in more detail for the next Uptake Drivers sub-group meeting.
Next steps
GMWG subgroups will meet face-to-face in August to progress the four policy priorities.
The next GMWG meeting will be scheduled for later in 2016.
