12 June 2007

When health professionals have questions about new PBS listings, many turn to NPS RADAR, an independent review of new medicines from the National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS). Now Medicine Update, a new publication from NPS, will help consumers to do the same thing.

“Designed for people who want to find out about newly PBS-listed medicines, Medicine Update will also help health professionals when they discuss medicines with their patients,” Dr Michael Crampton said on behalf of NPS. 

Medicine Update is ideally used when people hear about a new medicine and want to know more about it. It can be used to help patients answer some questions before discussing it with their doctor.

”People should always be given Consumer Medicine Information (CMI), especially when the medicine is new to them,” Dr Crampton said.

CMI and Medicine Update are different. Medicine Update explains the PBS listing of a medicine, important information about its use, including how it compares with other therapies and provides any important safety information.

People with arthritis were involved in the development and testing of Medicine Update.Feedback so far has been positive, and most felt it was information they wanted to know and would like to discuss with their doctor.

The first edition reviews the NSAID lumiracoxib (Prexige), for osteoarthritis, which was reviewed in NPS RADAR last year. Future editions of Medicine Update will review other new drugs and PBS listings and will be available around the time of PBS listing.

To read Medicine Update, visit www.nps.org.au/consumers.

ENDS

About NPS: National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is an independent, non-profit organisation for Quality Use of Medicines funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.