Drugs for asthma, pulmonary artery hypertension and non-small cell lung cancer have received recommendations for PBS listing from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).

At its July 2020 meeting, the PBAC recommended the following listings:

• Atectura Breezhaler: listing of the fixed dose combination (FDC) of mometasone furoate with indacaterol for the maintenance treatment of asthma.
• Fostair: listing of the fixed dose combination (FDC) of beclometasone  with formoterol for the maintenance treatment of asthma. However the PBAC did not recommend the listing of beclomethasone/formoterol for asthma maintenance and reliever therapy due to concerns the data presented were not adequate to support a listing for this indication and the potential for quality use of medicine issues.
• Tagrisso: listing of osimertinib for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic (Stage IIIB or IV), EGFR mutation positive, NSCLC. The PBAC considered treatment with osimertinib provided an improvement in progression free survival, overall survival and safety compared to treatment with PBS-listed EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).
• Uptravi: listing of selexipag for the treatment patients with WHO Functional Class III or IV Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). The recommendation for selexipag is as triple therapy in combination with an ERA and a PDE-5i. The PBAC considered the claim that selexipag, when used in combination with an ERA and a PDE-5i in patients with WHO FC III and IV PAH, was superior to placebo was reasonable, but that the magnitude of the benefit was uncertain. It said listing would be dependent on price reduction and  could not be finalised prior to the listing of ERA/PDE-5i dual therapy, which has been recommended as part of the Post-market Review of PAH listings.

Final decisions on the timing of PBS listings remain with the Minister for Health.