Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Subject to the passage of this bill from 1 August 2007, drugs on the PBS will be separated into two groups, each subject to different pricing arrangements. Drugs where there is only a single brand listed will be F1. F1 will contain single-brand drugs—both on patent and off patent, but generally on patent—that are not interchangeable at the patient level with drugs that have multiple brands. Approximately 410 drugs will be on F1 as of 1 August this year. PBS expenditure on these drugs, for your interest, in 2005-06 was about $3 billion. Drugs with multiple brands listed on the PBS that are interchangeable at the patient level with a drug that has multiple brands will form the F2 formulary.