#anz 2025-10-03

i was wrong about the compounding change taking effect immediately, it was phased, and i had told three people otherwise

coming back after 8 months, is supply any better in australia now

as far as i understood it a year ago, the pbs listing covered the diabetes indication and not weight management, and that split catches people out

powder survived

is there a temperature controlled option worth paying for into australia

an australian summer transit is the worst cold chain problem discussed in this channel and it is not close

summer is the risk

nobody here can tell you what is allowed in australia and the mods will stop that conversation, thats just me

pbs is diabetes only afaik

the pharmacist i asked was straightforward about supply and had no idea about anything else, which is fair enough

Testing queue: 3 submissions open, 38 awaiting dispatch.

australian here, brand new. is any of this on the PBS or am i paying

for type 2 diabetes there is a subsidised path with criteria. for weight management, as of 2025, you are paying

paying how much

i was around AUD 460 a month at a mid dose in Melbourne last year, plus the script and the consult

similar in Sydney, slightly worse if you use a clinic that bundles a subscription on top

and TGA approval, thats separate from the PBS?

completely separate. TGA says it may be sold. the PBS decides whether the taxpayer contributes. those two answers do not have to agree and often dont

that distinction confuses more Australians than anything else in this channel

the New Zealand version of the same split is Medsafe approval versus Pharmac funding, and Pharmac funding for weight is simply not there

whats it like in NZ then

private, unfunded, and supply here has been thinner than in Australia at several points. small market, we are not anyones priority

the small market problem is brutal and nobody outside NZ ever mentions it

Pharmac operates a fixed budget, so funding one thing means not funding another thing, out loud, in public. its more honest than most systems and it means slower

and a fixed budget means an incredibly hard bargain, which is why NZ sometimes gets very cheap things very late

the bigger change here was compounding

compounding?

there was a stretch where compounded versions were widely available through Australian clinics at maybe a third of the branded price

from around October 2024 the rules changed and that route effectively closed. a lot of people woke up with no supplier

i was one of them. two weeks notice, then nothing

what did you do

paid four times as much, quietly, and did not tell my partner for a month

very relatable and slightly grim

rough state of play as of 2025, corrections welcome, all member-reported

regional freight being a line item had not occurred to me

it should. see the summer shipping conversation, its its own nightmare

and as always, none of this is anyone telling you what to take. we are describing bills

the interesting comparison is that Australia and NZ both said no to funding weight management while both funding the diabetes indication

which is a policy statement about what obesity is, not a statement about the drug

thats it exactly and it is very tiring to live inside

back to TGA versus PBS — does TGA approval for weight make PBS listing more likely later

it is the necessary first step and it is nowhere near sufficient. the sponsor has to apply, and the cost-effectiveness case at these prices and this population size is enormous

translation: not soon

translation appreciated, hated