Submissions and Advocacy Activities

Recent Activities
 
APPROVAL FOR PROSTATE DRUGS, NOVEMBER 2011
MOGA submission to support approval for prostate cancer drugs (including aberaterone and carbazitaxel) considered at the November Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. The Association thanks Dr Mustafa Khasraw for his assistance in developing the MOGA submission.
 
On receipt of advice that at its November meeting the PBAC were to consider submissions pertaining to new prostate cancer drugs, including aberaterone and carbazitaxel the Association wrote to support and endorse the approval of this class of drugs by the PBAC. Click here to view.
 
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2010 Activities:
 
DRAFT INFORMATION REQUESTS FOR ASSESSING CO-DEPENDANT TECHNOLOGIES
In mid December 2010 MOGA endorsed and contributed to a joint submission to the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (DOHA), the Medical Services Advisory Committee and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee on the DRAFT INFORMATION REQUESTS FOR ASSESSING CO-DEPENDANT TECHNOLOGIES. The submission can be viewed here and represents the views of MOGA, the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, the Faculty of Radiation Oncology of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiation Oncologists, Cancer Council Australia and Cancer Voices Australia.
 
MOGA welcomes this timely initiative to promote discussion and feedback on the co-dependent and hybrid technologies with the aim of providing comprehensive Ministerial advice.The focus of the draft is on a single pairing of a proposed test with a proposed drug as the first test in formulating a framework to manage the evidence and process issues involved in dealing with co-dependant technologies. This is a viable starting point for the management of co-dependent technologies, however it is acknowledged that more comprehensive guidelines capable of addressing a wide diversity of complex co-dependent scenarios needs to be developed at the next stage in this process. For instance, the development lag between drug approval and subsidisation and the subsequent emergence of related new tests and extending the linkage principles to encompass other issues such as PET and drugs, surgical techniques and radiological testing.
 
Given the absence of appropriate legislation and monitoring, the Draft paper and consultation process also highlights the need for the DOHA, regulatory organisations and clinicians to address the growing number of unregulated technologies, tests and treatments in the Australian marketplace.The Association particularly acknowledges the contribution of A/Prof Paul Craft from The Canberra Hospital who provided a detailed analysis to assist with the MOGA submission.
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