Canadians will wait longer for new medicines if Health Canada gets its way fpcomment
The Canadian government is planning to change the way prices are set for new patented drugs and cut the maximum prices at which these drugs can be sold by up to 70 per cent. But this reform could prove very costly for patients. If it goes forward and fails to take into account the adverse effects of reference pricing systems, which have been well documented by various international bodies, Canadians could see their access to new drugs slowed down or even compromised.
Although the intention is to lower prices, the net result is likely to be longer wait times before new drugs are introduced. This is all the more so given that, in many cases, these prices would later be used as benchmarks in other countries. This phenomenon has been documented in Belgium, for example, where drugs are often introduced later since prices there are lower. Indeed, these delays are longer than in Canada in four of the seven countries added to the reference basket by Health Canada.
Declines of up to 70 per cent in the maximum price could very well find us bringing up the rear in terms of timely access. The connection between price regulation and sequence of access is indeed well established.
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