Is the drug company legally obliged to provide a treatment or drug requested through SAS?
No, a company is free to reject an SAS application. However, in the past, manufacturers of HIV antivirals have accepted that it is morally appropriate to offer some access to new drugs for people at great risk of becoming ill from HIV or running out of treatment options, especially since it can take some time for drugs already approved overseas to gain approval and listing on the PBS in Australia. Another issue to be weighed up is the potential benefit of the drug versus any risk associated with taking it. In general, SAS drugs are drugs which are either still experimental (the clinical research into the drug is not complete), or about which we have only a limited or short-term understanding of potential effects on people. As data about some of the side effects of long-term HIV treatment continues to emerge, this underscores the importance of understanding that there may be unknown risks associated with any drug, and cautions against accessing experimental drugs unless there is a real
