TRUDEAU IS KRYPTONITE FOR DRUG INNOVATION
It’s safe to say that if the industry producing COVID-19 vaccines were personified, it would be Superman.
By contrast, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s antipathy and proposed policies toward the innovative pharmaceutical industry can only be described as kryptonite.
Just two days before Trudeau’s federal Liberal government was to bring in new patented medicines regulations that would have been “the final nail in the coffin” of the innovative pharmaceutical industry in Canada, according to some experts, his government kicked those kryptonic new regulations another six months down the road — to be brought back only after Trudeau holds an expected, unnecessary federal election either later this summer or in early fall.
On June 29, Health Minister Patty Hajdu announced the federal government would postpone changes for the third time to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) regulations, saying the industry needed more time to adjust since it’s been kind of busy saving the world.
The advocacy group for the innovative pharmaceutical industry in Canada (as opposed to the generic pharmaceutical industry) has vehemently opposed the changes, initially supposed to take effect on July 1, 2020. After this third delay, they are now scheduled to come into force on Jan. 1, 2022.
Not surprisingly, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, seemingly opposed to anyone making a profit, has repeatedly criticized the federal Liberals for delaying bringing in these new anti-innovation regulations.
The federal Conservatives are on the side of innovation and ensuring Canadians have access to new life-saving medicines and creating high-paying jobs as well as domestic self-sufficiency in vaccine production.
“The Liberal government is once again delaying the decision on implementing their drug pricing changes, acknowledging the impact it will have on patients, and research and development of pharmaceuticals,” said Conservative health critic Michelle Rempel Garner in a written statement. “We need to rebuild and grow our life-sciences sector and foster R&D domestically,” which is something two federal government reports recommend doing.
Hajdu said she’s open to entering into talks with the innovative industry but added any changes can’t alter the government’s goal to make patented medications more affordable.
“Pharmaceutical companies have been working flat out to help the world break free of COVID-19, including by developing vaccines and other therapeutics,” Hajdu said during her June 29 online media conference.
It’s ironic that Hajdu acknowledges the life-saving work of big pharma but feels comfortable again painting the industry as the evil villain in rising health-care costs.
Governments should always seek solutions to save taxpayers money but what’s happened for decades is federal policies have caused Canada to have some of the highest generic drug prices in the world and an innovative drug industry that can’t afford to innovate in Canada. This means we’re losing out on growing our life-sciences industry and seeing the best and brightest move to greener pastures, while Canadians are not getting access to the most innovative drugs as early as people in other countries, which can ultimately cost the health care system more money.
Pamela Fralick, president of Innovative Medicines Canada, the advocacy group for big pharma in Canada, says delaying the implementation of the PMPRB changes for the third time is being viewed with some optimism but added the uncertainty is already negatively affecting investment and growth in high-paying jobs in Canada.
“This is the first time that the health minister has said publicly that she would be willing to talk with the innovative industry so that for us is a very strong signal that something positive may be afoot,” said Fralick.
Take a moment to ponder the above statement. Her gross dereliction of duty is only superseded by that of her boss.
Fralick says over a twoyear span, 30 global CEOS from multinational pharmaceutical companies wrote to Trudeau four times seeking a meeting — from February 2018 to February 2020 — just weeks before COVID-19 started to wreak havoc on countries outside of China, where it originated.
“Not only didn’t they get a meeting, the prime minister never even responded,” says Fralick, nor did the health minister.
Then, during the height of the pandemic, Trudeau had to approach the global CEO of Pfizer with his tail between his legs as Canada lagged far behind 50 countries for many months in the number of vaccines doled out to Canadians.
“The global CEOS of the innovative industry do meet with the national leaders in other countries,” explained Fralick, adding that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Joe Biden and even former U.S. president Donald Trump have all met with the CEOS of this vital industry while Trudeau played hard to get until vaccines were hard to get.
Just last month, Trudeau visited the Pfizer plant in Belgium so vital to Canada being lifted out of the COVID-19 morass, which has claimed the lives of 26,438 Canadians so far, bankrupted many tens of thousands of others, led to the suicides and mental health struggles of countless more as a result of the lockdowns and cost the Canadian economy hundreds of billions of dollars. Imagine how much better things might have been for Canadians if Trudeau and his ministers hadn’t treated the world’s big pharma CEOS like pariahs.
This looming new law has created so much uncertainty, we might lose what little innovative pharmaceutical industry we already have. The new regulations include changes to the group of comparator countries that includes removing high-priced jurisdictions like the U.S. and Switzerland and adding six jurisdictions with lower-than-canadian average list prices, meaning many pharmaceutical companies will not launch new life-saving drugs in Canada because they won’t be able to recoup the costs of developing those medications.
According to Fralick, new drugs cost about $2.6 billion and many years to develop.
A January Research Etc. report commissioned by Life Sciences Ontario found 94 per cent of all big pharma CEOS interviewed for the study said product launches will be delayed in Canada, with 35 per cent saying it’s already happened. “Two new product launches on permanent delay, no new clinical trials in Canada, employment head count frozen for second-straight year,” one CEO is quoted as saying.
Another said: “Investing in medicine keeps people out of hospitals. Stifling innovation is extremely short-sighted.”
If every country in the world treated the innovative industry the way Trudeau’s government does, there would be no vaccines acting like Superman flying around saving us from this horrible disease.
In other words, when it comes to this life-saving industry, Trudeau is Lex Luthor.