Ontario focused on rare disease drugs ahead of national talks

TORONTO — Ontario will push for the federal government to tackle the high cost of treatments for rare diseases as negotiations over a new national prescription drug program are set to kick off, the province's health minister told Reuters on Monday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party, which was reduced to a minority government following the October election, made a universal pharmacare program a key campaign promise of their re-election bid, without offering much detail on how it might work. The details will need to be negotiated with provincial and territorial governments, responsible for delivering most healthcare.

"I think that we should start with where we see a real problem, and Ontario sees a real problem with the rare and orphan disease drugs," Christine Elliott, the provincial health minister, said in an interview.

"On the other issues, we don't see that there's a problem, with respect to Ontario."

There is likely room for consensus on rare diseases, as the federal government promised a new national strategy to improve access to the drugs in the last budget. But since by definition few patients have rare diseases, a program focused there would not get Canada much closer to the universal coverage Trudeau promised.

While rare disease treatments face small markets, the extremely high prices they command and policies that speed their approval have made them a hot and profitable niche for drugmakers.

Elliott said she told new federal Minister of Health Patty Hajdu during a call on Friday that provincial and territorial ministers would like to teleconference early in the new year and meet in the spring on a number of issues, including drug costs.

Canada is the only developed country with a universal healthcare system that does not cover prescription drugs for all.