PBS rules stopping doctors from prescribing single-pill combinations as first line for hypertension are at odds with international guidelines and costing patients money, experts say.<\/p>\n
Several guidelines, including those of the International Society\u00a0of Hypertension and the European Society of Cardiology, recommend single-pill\u00a0combinations \u2014 multiple blood pressure control drugs in one pill \u2014 as a first-line treatment.<\/p>\n
However, the PBS does not subsidise these pills as initial treatment.<\/p>\n
A new paper published in the\u00a0Journal of Hypertension has compared patient co-payments for 57 single-pill combinations with their free-drug equivalents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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