Medicines Matter

The Medicines Matter Report is an annual report that assesses the timelines for registration and reimbursement of new medicines for Australian patients, against other OECD countries.

The Medicines Matter Report involves a detailed and unique methodology, built by IQVIA, that standardises timelines for medicines registration (market authorisation) and also reimbursement across a variety of healthcare systems within comparable OECD countries including Australia.

The latest report finds…

  1. From 2016-2021, Australia ranked 16th out of 20 for the number of reimbursed New Molecular Entities (NMEs), an increase of one place on the previous Medicines Matter report.
  2. Australia has remained in 15th position out of 20 for the proportion of reimbursed NMEs, 9% below the OECD average.
  3. The top four countries reimbursed more than 70% of NMEs in less than 6 months from registration, while only 17% of NMEs were reimbursed in Australia in less than 6 months.
  4. The average time from registration to reimbursement for all 20 OECD countries has increased to 384 days, with Australia’s average at 466 days.
  5. NME registration to reimbursement timeframes vary significantly between therapeutic areas.

Previous reports