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Commercial Eyes at PharmAus19

Posted on October 18, 2019

The Commercial Eyes team had the pleasure of joining colleagues, clients, and representatives from across the pharmaceutical industry this week for PharmAus19 at Australia’s Parliament House.

PharmAus is an annual event held in Canberra and hosted by Medicines Australia to showcase the medicines industry and engage decision makers.

2019 marks the third PharmAus event, with the theme being “Medicines Matter”. Sessions throughout the policy symposium reflected on how medicines matter to patients, the community, the economy and the government.

After opening remarks from Medicines Australia CEO Liz De Somer and Board Chair Anna Lavelle, the Hon Greg Hunt MP reflected on a number of personal interactions he and his colleagues have had with patients who have directly benefited from new medicines.

Professor Andrew Wilson spoke about the upcoming National Medicines Policy review, after raising it at the same forum 2 years previously. While Prof Wilson considers the “high order principles remain sound”, he spoke to the challenges of emerging therapies that no longer fit the narrower definition of a medicine. These innovations have the potential to profoundly change peoples lives, but will challenge traditional assessment frameworks and the way care is delivered and funded.

A number of presentations focused on indigenous health, and initiatives addressing the known gap in health outcomes. The work from Dragon Claw was particularly inspiring and well worth a look.

Keynote speaker Frank Lichtenberg presented his findings from his work on the impact of pharmaceutical innovation on premature mortality and hospitalization in Australia. This work highlights the quantifiable benefits the medicines industry has on health outcomes, and was a pertinent reminder that this part of the sector is one of the most assessed, and most efficient components of the entire health sector.

It is a privilege for the Commercial Eyes team to work closely with so many of the companies represented at PharmAus, to play a key role in making their innovations available to the patients that can benefit from them.