Health officials are in talks with pharmaceutical firms to get “revolutionary” weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy on the list of federally-subsidised prescription medicines.Access to approved GLP-1 medications is highly restricted in Australia and those who can buy them often fork out thousands of dollars a year – driving some to look at black market options.Health Minister Mark Butler on Monday hailed GLP-1 medications as “a revolutionary class of drugs” that “I certainly want to see them on the (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) so that Australians have access to them in an equitable way”.“How do we get them onto the PBS and make them available to people on an equitable basis is really the question that we are working through right now,” he told Seven, adding that he had received expert advice recommending “a relatively limited listing for weight loss”.“So for people with a body mass index … of 35 or higher and some established cardiovascular disease – so certainly not a population-wide listing.”Listing a medication on the PBS requires the federal government to agree a price with the drugmaker.It absorbs a large portion of the medication’s total cost so that Australians who need prescription medicines pay lower prices.Mr Butler said his department had been working with the makers of two GLP-1 drugmakers “to try and agree a price that they’re willing to receive and we’re willing to pay on behalf of taxpayers” but that “we haven’t been able to agree that price yet”.“We’ve got to get there,” he said.“This is too important a class of drugs not to have on the PBS.“I’ve made that clear to the two companies that have these drugs in the market and to my department, we’ve got to get there one way or the other.” Doctors and pharmacists have long-called for GLP-1 medications to be listed on the PBS, with Royal Australian College of General Practitioners saying it would help reduce obesity but also help patients “gain health”.