PSA welcomes investment into research to reduce medication harm

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement of $11.7 million in funding for research into medicines safety and quality use of medicines.

 

Today’s announcement is the first round of grants to be delivered under the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), agreed with the Federal Government and PSA last year as part of the Health Minister’s commitment to progress Medicine Safety as a National Health Priority Area.

 

Grants will enable recipients to target medication-related harm and the safe use of medicines in the community. PSA National President, A/Prof Chris Freeman, applauded the announcement and said research undertaken through this grant funding is an important step to improving the health of Australians through medicine safety.

 

“The intended outcome of the research grant opportunity is to reduce the amount of medicine-related harm in the community and help promote the safe and effective use of medicines,” he said.

 

“This is on the back of PSA’s seminal Medicine Safety: Take Care report which estimates that 250,000 Australians are hospitalised each year and another 400,000 present to emergency departments as a result of medication error, misuse and misadventure, costing Australia $1.4 billion in hospital admissions.”

 

“Pharmacists, as the custodians of medicine safety, must play a key role in order to reduce the medication misadventure in Australia. Today’s announcement is a critical first step in the right direction.”

 

“PSA congratulates today’s recipients and looks forward to working with both current and future applicants and the wider research community to tackle the challenges of reducing medicine-related harm in Australia,” A/Prof Freeman said.

 

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Media contact: PSA media 0424 777 463