Nearly half of ADHD medication scripts are now for adults
Adults have overtaken children aged 6-12 as the biggest patient cohort treated with ADHD medications, PBS data show. Nearly 210,000 patients aged over 18 were…
Tag: PBS
Why a nurse practitioner revolution isn’t happening — even with Medicare independence
Ditching the rule that nurse practitioners must have formal doctor support to bill Medicare is unlikely to trigger a mass migration of nurses attempting to…
PBAC to examine if doctors should prescribe PBS medicines to prisoners
The Federal Government is considering lifting the PBS ban on Australia’s 42,000 prisoners, taking the suggestion to the PBAC’s March meeting. Prisoners have been excluded…
Pharmacists selling COVID-19 antivirals over-the-counter ruled out
The Federal Government has rejected a proposal that pharmacists be allowed to sell antiviral treatments for COVID-19 over the counter, saying it would be illegal…
PBAC wants COVID-19 antiviral prescribing rules tightened as cost reaches $1 billion
The PBAC has warned that the $981 million annual cost of subsiding COVID-19 antivirals must be curbed with stricter PBS criteria or price cuts for the manufacturers. …
Tapentadol scripts rise by 40% amid overall decline in opioid prescribing
Tapentadol is the only PBS-listed opioid to see a significant growth in prescriptions over recent years, amid an overall decline for all other subsidised opioid…
PBAC rejects semaglutide listing for severe obesity
Semaglutide manufacturer Novo Nordisk has lost its second bid for Wegovy to be PBS-listed as a severe obesity treatment, with the PBAC deciding it would…
Clampdown on GP-administered buprenorphine delayed for seven months
The ban on GPs privately prescribing and administering long-acting buprenorphine onsite has been delayed until 30 June 2024. Opioid dependence treatments were added to the…
‘People don’t realise the dangers’: Warning after hundreds of semaglutide overdoses
The social media frenzy around semaglutide may have contributed to dozens of overdoses, says a leading endocrinologist, with poisons information centres seeing a spike in…
Empagliflozin PBS expansion will cover all HF patients
The PBS listing for empagliflozin will soon be expanded to cover all patients with symptomatic heart failure regardless of ejection fraction. From 1 November, doctors…
