Advertise on podcast: The 'Dispatched' Podcast

Welcome to the first podcast video recording. Recorded at the recent Pfizer Invites event, this episode focuses on the rapidly emerging private market and whether it can catalyse meaningful medicines reform to benefit patients who are either waiting extended periods for funded access, paying for it themselves, or missing out altogether,

Should industry groups present the agreement negotiations to patient groups and 'invited' stakeholders, and if so, what should they say? Why the private market for GLP-1 medicines could be a historic catalyst for the changes so many want.

The impact of new media guidance from Australia's health technology regulator can now be assessed against the backdrop of its use of an AI platform initially developed for, and still used by, intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Why is the debate in Australia so limited, confined to a small group of privileged insiders, and why do so many appear uncomfortable with patients having meaningful rights?

A week dominated by discussions about AI that was all of good, less good, self-serving and ironic. Surely we can grasp the opportunity while managing the risks. A dehumanising outcome for women living with a form of advanced breast cancer must surely trigger ministerial intervention and another highly questionable Intergenerational Report.

This week, we mark a significant anniversary, discuss the risks of missing the opportunity that artificial intelligence offers to speed access to healthcare, and explore why some might be reluctant to embrace it. The wonderful irony of the phrase of the week.

This week's discussion starts with the perfect example of why pulling one lever can trigger another. The Senate's considering changes to expand the regulator's power, without any submissions from those most affected. Is it possible to have a common-sense discussion about tobacco excise against the backdrop of an unrelenting crime wave with mounting numbers of innocent victims? Or can those not impacted by the consequences just turn the other cheek? Sound familiar?

Why pulling the same 'levers' on reform cannot work. Comparing one medicines access program and its humanitarian underpinnings to our institutional frameworks. The need for term limits on advisory committees, the enduring unfairness of medicine co-payments, and the phrase of the week.

The opportunities available in the pending negotiation of new industry agreements and the selective discrimination against some patients and patient groups by an outdated and unaccountable institution.

For more than a decade, Public Summary Documents have been presented as evidence of system transparency, but in fact, they are an affront to it. What was the discussion about transparency that ended with an impenetrable 50-page technical document as the solution? Who remembers that the PBS still has 'Special Patient Contributions'? Also, a new guide on talking about the deception that are the agreements euphemistically described as 'risk shares'. Read the BAA guide to risk share arrangements.

An important reminder about the impact of innovation and why it matters. What does it say about Australia and our life sciences policy frameworks that locally developed innovations are commercialised in other markets, but not here? Patients need access to the rights they are currently denied and the 'Abilene paradox'.

The events in the US this week surrounding a former public health leader raise some important questions in Australia about the accountability of 'independent experts'. Why we can't afford to muck up the AI opportunity as new evidence on its use emerges globally. Ongoing debate over access to medicines and the impact of global pricing.

Misleading claims about patient groups and the industry, combined with an irrational hyperventilation about a rational response to new global realities, have made for an interesting week. The price reduction mantra and whether it can be moderated?

A very busy week with mostly relief for patients accessing PBS-funded multiple sclerosis medicines, but what does it really mean, and what is the opportunity? Reports and their questionable citations. The most cynical use of language in our health system.

The MS medicines controversy continues. Why wouldn’t the minister just deal with it and make it go away? It may not be that easy. Why any resolution will probably deal with symptoms rather than the cause. The realities of ministerial offices and the challenges they face that are not visible to outsiders. Another 'phrase of the week' is dissected to reveal its true meaning.

A small player with no market share and no real prospect of gaining any agreed to an almost 50 per cent price reduction to secure reimbursement. Who would have thought the market leaders would respond negatively? Discussion about the change to nurse prescribing, which has been a feature of the PBS for more than 15 years, and concerns over vaccine hesitancy.