Federal agency faced obstacles to lower drug prices, memo shows – National | 24CA News
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was warned that pharmaceutical firms had steadfastly refused to have interaction on drug-price reforms earlier than he urged an unbiased federal company to pause these reforms in favour of extra session, a 2021 memo reveals.
The memo, obtained by the NDP by way of the access-to-information legislation and shared with The Canadian Press, is a standing report from the appearing chair of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board to the well being minister about obstacles they had been dealing with to decreasing the worth of medication.
The evaluation board is an arm’s-length federal company tasked with regulating the price of patented medicine in Canada to make sure they aren’t extreme, which incorporates wanting on the worth of comparable drugs in different nations.
In 2017, the federal government introduced new guidelines to carry costs down by increasing the variety of nations Canada compares with. Those modifications had been imagined to be launched in 2020 however had been delayed a number of instances due to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier than finally coming into impact final July.
The company was within the strategy of consulting on the finer particulars related to the brand new rule in November when Duclos wrote to the appearing chair and prompt the method be paused to offer drug firms, affected person teams, provincial ministers and himself extra time to grasp the modifications.
The 2021 memo suggests the well being minister knew pharmaceutical firms had been obstinate within the face of the modifications, a minimum of from the angle of the company.
“After five years, myriad policy proposals and many hundreds of hours of consultation, it would appear the pharmaceutical industry is simply not amenable to any measures that would further constrain its ability to sell patented medicines in Canada at free market prices,” the appearing chair of the company’s board on the time, Melanie Bourassa Forcier, wrote within the memo.
She mentioned after 110 hours of assembly with members of the pharmaceutical business to speak concerning the tips for the brand new guidelines, they “steadfastly refused to engage on the substance.”
The minister’s letter to the drug pricing regulator led to discord amongst board members and was rapidly adopted by the resignation of the appearing chair, a board member and the company’s govt director.
The evaluation board finally determined to pause the modifications.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and well being critic Don Davies are anticipated to carry a press convention concerning the memo Thursday morning.
They allege the memo, together with elevated lobbying efforts by the pharmaceutical business to the federal well being minister’s workplace, helps to clarify why Duclos urged the company to halt the modifications.
Davies has accused the minister of caving to strain from the business.
Duclos didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however informed the House of Commons well being committee in April that he requested the company to pause to ensure provinces, territories, drug firms and affected person teams had extra time to grasp the modifications.
The letter was a part of the minister’s authorized obligation to supply suggestions on the proposed modifications, he mentioned.
He additionally mentioned that he met with members of the pharmaceutical business on a variety of subjects, together with drug costs, COVID-19, the scarcity of kids’s drugs and different issues.
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