Cut-price drugs to save families

Please install the latest Flash player

[To view Flash please enable JavaScript and Flash.]

Hunters Hill's Hazel and Aggi Theocharous with kids Myles, 4, and James, 11 are delighted they will be paying less for their medicine. Picture: Ella Pellegrini. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

THE biggest price cuts in the history of the nation's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will hit chemist shelves today, delivering big savings to families.

Prices will be slashed on 1000 brands of 60 popular prescription medicines by up to $14 per script.

Some of the most widely used medications, including scores of antibiotics, painkillers, antidepressants, cholesterol controllers, laxatives, blood pressure and heart drugs, will fall in price, thanks to a Gillard government move which brings drug costs into line with the market price.

A 20-pack of heavy-duty painkiller Panadeine Forte will fall by up to $4.32, a course of antibiotic Augmentin Duo Forte will fall by up to $3.33, a month's supply of anti-depressant Prozac will fall by a maximum of $3.35, and widely used cholesterol tablets Lopid will fall by up to $7.32 for a 60-pack.

With an average checkout saving to consumers of $3 per script, the move will save hundreds of dollars per year for families who use multiple medications. The government estimates a patient checkout saving of up to $1.6 billion over 10 years.

The savings will also deliver taxpayers a $1.9 billion windfall over five years because the medications are subsidised on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Drug companies hope those savings will lead the government to list new drugs on the taxpayer-funded PBS, with a swag of new treatments for cancer, arthritis and kidney failure already slated to join the scheme from today.

More:
Cut-price drugs to save families