Neurology drugs among most expensive for PBS
Drugs with neurology indications are among the Top 10 PBS drugs list by cost to government released by NPS MedicineWise this week.
The anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy ocrelizumab (Ocrevus) which is listed on the PBS for treatment of multiple sclerosis was ranked 10th of all most expensive therapies for the year July 2020 – June 2021, with a total cost to government of $175,644,997 for on 40,554 prescriptions.
The stroke prevention DOAC anticoagulant apixaban (Eliquis) was the sixth most expensive drug for the PBS with a cost of $248,455,067 for 3,020,507 prescriptions.
The most costly PBS listed drugs to government were aflibercept for age related macular degeneration (AMD) with a cost of $443,729,600 per year and cancer drug nivolumab (Opdivo), which cost $402,113,073 last year.
Top neuroscientist moves to private sector
Professor Steven Petrou PhD has announced he is stepping down from his role as Director of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne to focus on his role as Chief Scientific Officer of US-based Praxis Precision Medicines Inc.
Professor Petrou joined the Florey in 2001 as a laboratory head and served as a Deputy Director for eight years before his appointment as Institute Director in 2018.
He will move to the precision neuroscience company that he helped found based on his research interests in genetics and the genomics of epilepsy.
Professor Petrou is a recognized leader in the field of ion channel neuropathies in rare pediatric epilepsies and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Praxis is developing a pipeline of therapies that specifically address genes controlling the imbalance of excitation and inhibition of neuronal circuitry at the core of multiple CNS disorders. The company’s portfolio includes potential treatment for essential tremor, rare epilepsies and other neurological disorders with genetically validated mechanisms
Florey Chair Mr Mark Jones AM said Professor Petrou would continue his part-time employment at the Florey for one day a week and maintain his laboratory to manage existing research activity and commercial collaborations into the future.
“The Florey is considered among the top 10 Brain Medical Research Institutes in the world and we expect to attract strong local and international talent for the position of Institute Director,” he said
Discharge summary abbreviations cause confusion
Medical abbreviations used by specialists in hospital discharge summaries are often confusing to the GPs who receive them and also ambiguous for hospital colleagues and junior doctors, an Australian study has found.
A retrospective audit of 802 discharge summaries at a Queensland regional health service found that they contained an average of 17 abbreviations, and almost one in five GPs were unable to interpret at least one of them.
Almost all (94%) of GPs said that ambiguous abbreviations had a negative impact on patient care and 60% said they spent too much time of clarifying them. Abbreviations could also have multiple possible meanings in different contexts and led to confusion for 15% of junior doctors working in other departments of the same hospital, the study found.
While most had no problems with abbreviations such as Hb and IHD, the abbreviations that had widest range of misinterpretations or ‘don’t know’ responses included NAD, DEM, PE, LC, TGA, TCH and BAE.
The study authors said hospitals should adopt a standardised list of acceptable abbreviations for medical documentation, which is made available to both hospital medical staff and GPs.
They also noted that abbreviations were very location specific, with marked differences between those used by Melbourne and Sydney hospitals.
The findings are published in the Internal Medicine Journal.