NPSA has welcomed a five-year agreement with the Commonwealth Government that will enable
ongoing timely and equitable distribution of PBS medicines to patients throughout Australia.
NPSA has welcomed a five-year agreement with the Commonwealth Government that will enable
ongoing timely and equitable distribution of PBS medicines to patients throughout Australia.
The first Pharmaceutical Wholesaler Agreement (1PWA) is an agreement between the government
and NPSA – the peak industry body representing full-line Community Service Obligation (CSO)
medicine wholesalers. It addresses significant erosion of supply chain funding and means that
Australians will continue to receive the uninterrupted medicine distribution service they have come to
rely on.
The partnership between the Commonwealth and the CSO medicine wholesaler industry was
established more than 20 years ago and underpins the ongoing reliability of the PBS, supporting the
Commonwealth’s promise of equity of access to all Australians set out in the National Medicines
Policy.
NPSA Chair Richard Vincent said, “We are extremely pleased to have finalised this five-year
agreement which secures medicine management and distribution and benefits all Australians. The
1PWA will enable available medicines, whether they be everyday tablets, high care specialised
therapies or cold chain products to be carefully managed and distributed reliably to patients, no matter
where they live.
“As climate-related disasters increase, our role is of heightened importance in reaching impacted
communities during emergencies such as cyclone, flood or bushfire.
“Through our commitment to the CSO, we are proud to provide 24-hour service to Australia’s 5900
community pharmacies, in the suburbs of our major cities and in rural and remote locations. With the
benefit of this agreement, we look forward to supporting government health initiatives and pharmacy’s
wider role in providing healthcare services to patients.”
Devoted to the healthcare sector, NPSA members API (Australian Pharmaceutical Industries), NPD
(National Pharmacies Distribution), Sigma Healthcare and Symbion employ more than 3,400 people
and operate a network of national distribution centres that safely distributes more than 316 million
units of prescription medicines into community pharmacies each year and more than 2 million units of
health-related products each day.
1PWA is a direct agreement between the government and NPSA and each CSO wholesaler will have
its own supporting agreement, reflecting the terms of the 1PWA. Previously, funding for medicine
distribution formed part of the Community Pharmacy Agreements with government.
1PWA represents a new level of collaboration with government to deliver for patients and the NPSA
sincerely thanks the Minister for Health and Aged Care, The Honourable Mark Butler, his team and
department for their work in finalising the agreement.