Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP, Carol Hughes writes a regular column about initiatives and issues impacting our community.
Canada’s Patented Medicines Price Review Board (PMPRB), an independent quasi-judicial body that is designed to ensure Canada’s drug prices are kept to reasonable levels among comparable countries, has been rocked by resignations of a handful of its senior leadership team. This comes six years after the government promised to lower drug prices by launching consultations on patented medicine regulations.
Those who have resigned include PMPRB executive director Douglas Clark, board member Matthew Herder, and former acting chair Melanie Bourassa Forcier.
While Mr. Clark has not shared his motivations for his resignation, and Ms. Forcier has stated that she was examining her legal obligations prior to publicly declaring her reason for resigning, Mr. Herder has publicly released his letter of resignation, directed at the Minister of Health.
He cited the government’s refusal to follow through on PMPRB consultations by failing to effectively challenge their own legislation in court when elements of it were found to be unconstitutional, and that the government continuously delayed the remaining regulations from coming into force. Worse still, Herder cited the Health Minister’s “request” that the PMPRB suspend consultations on lowering drug prices for reasons “that were largely indistinguishable in form and substance from industry talking points on the proposed guidelines” and that this “undermined the Board’s credibility and interfered with the function…as an independent, arms-length tribunal.”
What has been made clear, however, is a flurry of pharmaceutical lobbying attempts directed at the Health Minister that seems to have had at least some effect on the independence of the PRPMB, particularly from corporate pharmaceutical firm Innovative Medicines Canada, who have repeatedly lobbied Health Canada officials and requested quarterly meetings with PRPMB board members. Following the resignation of the former Board Chair, the Health Minister appointed Thomas Digby, an industry-friendly pharmaceutical IP Lawyer, to the position.
What we have at this point are inferences that the Health Minister has repeatedly delayed consultations and may have directly intervened in the work of an independent regulator designed to lower drug prices for Canadians.
Canada has the third most expensive drug prices among OECD countries, behind only the United States and Switzerland. The entire point of the PRPMB is to protect and inform Canadians by ensuring that the prices of patented medicines sold in Canada are not excessive, and any attempt to undermine their independence will have a negative effect on the cost of drugs for Canadians.
Drug prices are a vital issue. We’ve seen far too many people across Canada forced to forego drugs they need for their health and well-being due to cost. And while the Liberals liked to talk about the importance of universal pharmacare in years past, in the last election it was barely a footnote in their platform.
Given the revelations that the Health Minister may have potentially intervened in the workings of an independent body in favour of the pharmaceutical industry, it is evident that this needs to be actively investigated.
At the Health Committee, the NDP passed a motion to call the Health Minister, as well as the PRPMB members who resigned, to investigate exactly what kind of industry pressure led to those resignations, the pushback on the government’s own reforms, and whether the pharmaceutical industry used COVID-19 vaccines as a bargaining chip to push against affordable drugs. It’s important that we get a full picture of exactly what occurred to force three prominent members of the PRPMB to resign at the same time and the kind of conduct that would see the Health Minister intervene directly in an independent, arms-length organization.
It's deeply troubling that we cannot get ahead of out-of-control drug prices because of lobbying efforts by industry insiders. The idea that a Health Minister may have intervened with an independent body following intense lobbying efforts is even more concerning.