I have been looking at the list of new medicines that The Australian Medicines Industry brought to market in the last financial year. It makes for really interesting reading.

The Australian Medicines Industry made available no fewer than 21 brand new medicines to Australian patients through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. These include four new medicines to treat Type 2 diabetes, four for hypertension, three for rheumatoid arthritis and other treatments for prostate cancer, osteoporosis, migraines and infertility.

Once a new medicine is listed on the PBS, the full cost of the medicine is subsidised by the Government, so patients pay no more than $35.40 for each medicine.

The Australian Medicines Industry is working hard to bring as many new medicines to market via the PBS as quickly as possible, and in this regard I’d say 2010-11 was a good year. The bottom line is that health outcomes of thousands of Australian patients should improve as a result of these new medicines being developed.

The number of new medicines for 2010-11 compares well with the corresponding figure for the previous 12 months, when 12 new medicines were brought on to the PBS.

And globally, the number of new medicines under development grew by 100 in 2011 to 3050.

That has to be promising news for patients.