published letters

Published in the Age on Monday, September 28, 2015

Reports of excessive prices for new life-saving treatments for patients with hepatitis C should not be news (“Life imitates art in drug buyers’ club”, 26/9).

While Cabinet considers funding these new drugs, it is worth noting that Australians pay 10 to 30 times more than the world market prices for drugs like Arimidex, a breast cancer treatment, or statins for lowering cholesterol. Neither Labor nor the Coalition has committed to stopping this waste of money. If we paid world prices for drugs we could save $1billion annually. Meanwhile the US continues to try to impose even higher prices through the Trans Pacific Partnership and the government refuses to tell us what its position is. Perhaps such behaviour has something to do with the immense power of the transnational pharmaceutical industry. When will MPs stand up for patients and taxpayers?

Tim Woodruff, Doctors Reform Society