Say no to a monopoly on the supply of medicines to your pharmacy.
A lot goes on behind the counter of your local pharmacy to ensure the medicines you need are there when you need them.
Pharmacies across Australia are supported in this commitment by a network of specialist pharmacy distributors that meet Government-established standards for timely supply of all PBS medicines to all pharmacies in Australia.
Earlier this year a large pharmaceutical company withdrew its medicines from this network – restricting the options that pharmacies have for delivery of these medicines to a single supplier.
Pharmacies are now solely reliant on this company to ensure its medicines are delivered on time without the back-up supply of established pharmacy distributors or the protections offered by Government-established standards.
Therefore, patients and pharmacies that need medication from this specific pharmaceutical company no longer have the back-up supply options that they currently have for other medicines or the protections offered by Government-established standards.
It is the view of the National Pharmaceutical Services Association (NPSA) that if other drug companies follow suit and pharmacists are forced to rely on one source of supply for your medicine, these exclusive supply arrangements will:
- Make it much harder for pharmacists to ensure that PBS-listed medicines are available when they are needed;
- Result in many Australians experiencing unacceptable delays in the delivery of their essential medicines; and
- Make it impossible for the Federal Government to ensure that, "all Australians have timely access to the PBS-listed medicines they require regardless of the cost of the medicine, or where they live." (The Hon Nicola Roxon MP, former Minister for Health and Ageing, May 2010)