Approval of proposal to remove the Special Authority from Arrow-Venlafaxine XR

There will be no change to the listing of the Efexor XR brand of venlafaxine, which will remain subject to the Special Authority and hospital restrictions that currently apply to it.

Details of the decision

• The price and subsidy for Arrow-Venlafaxine XR will be reduced in Section B and in Part II of Section H of the Pharmaceutical Schedule from 1 September 2013 as follows (prices ex-manufacturer, excluding GST):

  Brand of venlafaxine	Presentation	Pack size	Current price and subsidy	Price and subsidy from 1 September 2013
  Arrow-Venlafaxine XR	Tab 37.5 mg	28	$7.84	$5.06
  Arrow-Venlafaxine XR	Tab 75 mg	28	$13.94	$6.44
  Arrow-Venlafaxine XR	Tab 150 mg	28	$17.08	$8.86
  Arrow-Venlafaxine XR	Tab 225 mg	28	$27.14	$14.34

• The Special Authority that currently applies to the Arrow-Venlafaxine XR brand of venlafaxine tablets listed in Section B of the Pharmaceutical Schedule will be removed from 1 September 2013.  The hospital restrictions listed in Part II of Section H of the Pharmaceutical Schedule will also be removed from the Arrow-Venlafaxine XR brand of venlafaxine tablets from 1 September 2013.
• The Special Authority and hospital restrictions that currently apply to the Efexor XR brand of venlafaxine capsules will remain in place.

Feedback received

The consultation of 14 June covered a range of proposals.  We appreciate all of the feedback that we received and acknowledge the time people took to respond. All consultation responses received were considered in their entirety in making decisions on the proposed changes. Only one submitter raised issues related to the Arrow-Venlafaxine XR proposal. The issues were of a commercial nature which we have responded to directly to the submitter.

More information

If you have any questions about this decision, you can call our toll free number (9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday) on 0800 66 00 50.