Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) was established under Section 101 of the National Health Act, to give advice to the Minister for Health about products to be made available as pharmaceutical benefits. The minister is required to consider the PBAC s advice but is not required to follow its recommendations. The initial criteria for inclusion of new products on the PBS were comparative safety and efficacy. 

Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee rejections, and the lack of available appeal mechanisms, have been increasingly challenged in recent years. One route available is to pursue a legal challenge to the Federal Court of Australia for a review of the decision. Most recently, in March 2000, the Federal Court rejected a pharmaceutical company s application to overturn the recommendation of the PBAC not to list a product on the scheme. 

The influence of the recommendations made by NICE are international and its decisions are closely monitored by other similar bodies (e.g. Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technical Assessments (CCOHTA) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC)) across the world and as a consequence the NICE website is achieving around 35 000 hits per day. The... 

Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health. Guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry on preparation of submissions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee including major submission involving economic analyses. Canberra (Austraha) Australian Government Publishing Service 1995. 

Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee Pharmaceutical Benefits Branch (of DHAC) Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Product Information (for health professionals) Pharmaceutical Subcommittee (of ADEC)... 

Since 1963, the government has negotiated prices with manufacturers for any new chemical entity to be reimbursed by the PBS. After a drug is approved for efficacy and safety it must be admitted onto the list of products covered by the PBS. Legislation passed in 1987 requires the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), the body responsible for recommending whether anew chemical entity should be listed for federal reimbursement, to consider not only effectiveness but also cost. 

Commonwealth of Australia, Guidelines for the Pharmaceutical Industry on Preparation of Submissions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee including major submissions involving economic analyses. Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra, 1995. Available from http //www.health.gov.au/pbs/pubs/pharmpac/gusubpac.htm. 

Price regulation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme + Pharm. Benefits Advisory Committee, Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority Min. of Finance Pharm. Serv. Div. Govt. y MoHWS Min. of Trade + Min. of Health + Central Pharmacy V Min. of Industry and Commerce + DDC y... 

Pharmaceutical Benehts Advisory Committee (PBAC). This committee was established in the 1950s under the National Health Act, 1953 to advise the Minister on the listing of products eligible for subsidy as pharmaceutical benefits under the PBS. Like the ADEC, it is a statutory committee and consists of six medical practitioners, a pharmacist, a clinical pharmacologist and a DHAC pharmacist, each of whom is appointed by the Minister. In general the committee will not recommend listing of products in the PBS other than those registered. 

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