Mandatory reporting for medicine shortages

Shortages of potentially life-saving medicines will have to be reported to the drug watchdog under new legislation that has cleared parliament.

The new mandatory scheme would require critical drug shortages to be reported within two days and non-critical shortages within 10 days.

Decisions to discontinue products would also need to be reported up to a year ahead of time under the bill, which passed the Senate on Monday night.

Health Minister Greg Hunt in June said some shortages, like the EpiPen shortage in April, could put patient lives at risk.

He said a voluntary scheme that had been in place in place since 2014 was ineffective.

"A significant number of medicine shortages of critical patient impact have not been reported to the TGA, or not reported in a timely manner," he said at the time.