National Medicines Policy: Response to the 2021 Review

This submission responds to the 2021 Review of the National Medicines Policy (NMP), addressing each of the six terms of reference. Research Australia supports the proposed principles and the four existing objectives, and recommends that the NMP be expanded include health technologies, noting that vaccines are already classed as medicines by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and that some products blur the line between medicines and devices. Its central argument is that the role of research in supporting the NMP should be explicitly recognised and that the health and medical research community should be named as an NMP partner. It recommends that the NMP link surveillance of antimicrobial resistance, development of new treatments and reduced antibiotic overuse in an integrated national response, and that medicines data, together with Medicare Benefits Schedule, hospital and insurance data, be used to make the policy more consumer centred: understanding variations in use, financial barriers to adherence and why consumers buy non-subsidised medicines. Case studies include the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Veterans’ MATES program, which has reached more than 300,000 clients, 33,000 general practitioners and 8,500 pharmacists, and the use of non-PBS alternatives to anticholinergic incontinence medicines associated with cognitive impairment. It also recommends including the NMP in health professional curricula, promoting it through nursing, medical and pharmacy peak bodies, and reviewing it more regularly.