Australian patients missing three-quarters of new medicines
20 July 2026: Only 25 per cent of medicines launched globally over the past decade have been listed for government subsidised access in Australia – leaving Australian patients with the ‘bitter pill’ of the three-quarters that are missing. The paltry approval rate compares with 88 per cent in the United States and 46 per cent in the United Kingdom.
A new report from Medicines Australia ‘Bitter Pill: How Australian patients are missing out on the latest medical breakthroughs’, for the first time identifies 18 specific medicines that want to be listed in Australia but have been deterred by torturous processes and declining investment in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
The missing medicines – that are already available to patients overseas but remain unavailable in Australia – include for cancer, mental illness, cardiology, immunology, rare diseases and infectious disease.
Among the case studies are the first new schizophrenia treatment in a generation, a radiopharmaceutical for advanced prostate cancer, treatments for a rare form of haemophilia, an important intervention for narcolepsy sufferers and vaccines against RSV and meningococcal B, that aren’t available to all at risk populations — real examples of what the reimbursement gap means for hundreds of thousands of Australians.
Medicines Australia CEO Elizabeth de Somer said the 18 missing medicines showed Australia had gone from a global leader to a laggard in funding new medicines.
“The real number of missing medicines is likely to be much, much higher, but these 18 medicines should be all the proof anyone needs that health standards in Australia are slipping and that is due to one thing – chronic underinvestment in the PBS.”
“Only one in four medicines launched globally in the past decade has made it onto the PBS. That statistic alone should be a wake-up call, but this report shows what it actually means for patients and their doctors,” Ms de Somer said.
“This is not a hypothetical anymore. It is a bitter pill to swallow for patients with schizophrenia, prostate cancer, Crohn’s disease and rare conditions who are missing out on treatments already helping people elsewhere.
“I think if the public knew just how many innovative medicines are now bypassing Australia because of an outdated process, they would be justifiably alarmed. The time for Government to see higher spending on innovative medicines as a cost and not as a long-term investment must finish.”
The report finds the primary driver of the widening access gap is a decade of underinvestment in innovative medicines through the PBS. Net investment in innovative (F1) medicines has fallen from 6.2 per cent to 4.1 per cent of the total health budget since 2015-16, while the likelihood a new medicine is reimbursed in Australia within two years of US approval has fallen from 1 in 5 to just 1 in 10.
Tina Powney, who lives with pulmonary arterial hypertension, said that knowing that new treatments exist gives patients hope, but that hope quickly turns to disappointment when those treatments remain out of reach because they aren’t funded.
“People often take simple things for granted—going for a swim, camping with family, travelling or even leaving the house without carrying life-sustaining equipment. Living with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension means those simple moments become enormous challenges. Access to innovative medicines isn’t just about living longer; it’s about giving people the chance to live more freely,” Ms Powney said.
Ms de Somer said: “We have seen a decade of decline in funding for innovative medicines in the PBS. That is the heart of this problem.”
“On top of that, Australia’s health technology assessment system is slow, rigid and complex, adding further delay. The 2024 HTA Review set out a clear roadmap to fix this, with more than 50 recommendations, but implementation has stalled and needs to be prioritised.”
The flow-on impact of this access gap is clear: more and more Australians are having to self-fund medicines that aren’t listed on the PBS. A recent McKell Institute survey found 43 per cent of Australians have been prescribed a medicine by their doctor that was not on the PBS, and 29 per cent have had to pay for a non-PBS-listed prescription medicine in the past three years, creating financial hardship.
Clinicians are feeling the impact too, often forced to substitute or make do with older, less effective treatments when the newest therapies are simply not available to prescribe.
Medicines Australia is calling on the Federal Government to act on two priorities: real, sustained growth in PBS investment in future budgets, and the timely, transparent implementation of the 2024 HTA Review.
A copy of the Report is available here: https://www.medicinesaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2026/07/03826-MA-BitterPill-Report_Accessible_Final.pdf
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Media Contact:
Liam Houlihan, Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations – 0438 366 400
media@medicinesaustralia.com.au
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