Health experts call for faster access to medicines for Australians

AstraZeneca continues to advocate for earlier, faster and fairer access to medicines for Australian patients

Australian patients wait, on average, 466 days between a potentially life-changing medicine receiving approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and that medicine being reimbursed through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

This length of time is significantly longer than the average time for the same process across all 20 OECD countries, which is 384 days. Australia’s average waiting period is months longer compared to Sweden, which ranks 8 out of 20 at 325 days. Other OECD countries such as Japan (102 days), Germany (136 days), Great Britain (156 days), also have faster listing times. For some, the wait is much longer. For example, a AstraZeneca cancer medicine was recently PBS listed 2,339 days after it was deemed safe and effective to use by the TGA, which was in August 2018.

To address the significant time delay that patients face in Australia, AstraZeneca is continuing to advocate for the government to introduce a bridging funding mechanism for medicines. Bridging funding could provide interim government funding to ‘bridge’ the gap between TGA registration and PBS reimbursement for medicines where there is a high unmet need and where patients cannot afford the time for the medicine to be listed on the PBS.

This would ensure patients could get faster access to treatment options, expected to provide improvement to their health outcomes over existing and often older therapies. This fund would help patients gain earlier access to medicines that may save or significantly extend their life.

In November 2024, the Bridging Funding Coalition – a group of 20 patient advocates, clinicians, medical researchers and pharmaceutical industry representatives (pictured) – launched a website and consensus statement across national media to call on the Government to ensure Australian patients get faster access to medicines by committing to establishing bridging funding for medicines.

Broad support for bridging funding continues to gain significant momentum among health, policy and patient experts. At the same time, there is growing urgency across the health sector to address the reform needed for patients in Australia’s health technology assessment system – the process by which medicines are valued and subsidised to Australians.

The Bridging Funding Coalition will continue advocating for bridging funding for medicines, while simultaneously developing a framework for bridging funding that could be accepted by the next government.

For more information or to learn more about the Bridging Funding Coalition, please contact:

Penny George, Director Corporate Affairs, AstraZeneca on penny.george@astrazeneca.com