Ministry defends decision to halt review of anti- smoking drug
VICTORIA — B. C.’ s Ministry of Health rejected a made- in- B. C. study of the controversial anti- smoking drug Champix because it had already requested a similar review from a national research organization, Health Minister Terry Lake said Wednesday.
“The ministry had already requested a different but related research project examining the safety and effectiveness of smoking- cessation drugs, including Champix,” Lake told the legislature on Wednesday.
He said that research is being done by the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s drug safety and effectiveness network, and that the results are expected later this year.
Lake was responding to accusations made by the New Democratic Party on Tuesday that the ministry had last year shut down a proposal by B. C.’ s Therapeutics Initiative — an independent drug- therapy assessment organization — to study Champix because government was worried a negative finding would reflect poorly on a smokingcessation program launched in 2011 by Premier Christy Clark.
An Ontario court has certified a class action against Pfizer Canada, the drug’s manufacturer, alleging Champix has led to psychological sideeffects as severe as potential suicide. The claims have not been proven in court, but have contributed to mounting questions about the drug in multiple jurisdictions.
On Tuesday, the NDP pointed to a leaked email sent last year by Rebecca Warburton, then co- director of the ministry’s drug research division. “We’ve decided to keep ( the review of) smoking cessation in- house, sorry about that — it’s getting political and we aren’t sure anyone wants to see a published evaluation,” she wrote to Greg Carney, research program manager at the Therapeutics Initiative.
The email was sent June 21, 2012, the day the Ontario class action was certified. Warburton was fired in October 2012 along with six other ministry employees as part of an investigation into alleged breaches of sensitive data.
Lake could not explain the email Wednesday, but said the decision on drug research was made by professional public servants, not elected officials. “There has been no indication of any pressure from political higher ups, whether it’s MLA, ministers or other political staff in terms of this decision making,” said Lake.
Lake added he thinks the NDP are using the issue for political gain.
“I get that the NDP, who set up the Therapeutics Initiative and still have people in their party that support it, don’t like the fact that we use a different system and we use other researchers,” he said, adding the issue is inflamed because the Therapeutics Initiative is among the subjects of the data breach investigation, and therefore has seen some of its government funding suspended.
NDP critic Mike Farnworth fired back, saying the research by the Therapeutics Initiative on Champix would have been more comprehensive than what is being done now, as it sought to evaluate the effects of the drug when taken in real- world conditions by British Columbian patients.
“The ( government- commissioned) review is a review of existing studies and literature. It’s not a study of people here in British Columbia using Champix,” he said.
“When you’re taking medication at home, you’re taking it in the real world. You’re not in a lab, you’re not doing it under controlled conditions, you’re taking it when you take it, which may not necessarily be the way that it’s studied in a lab,” he added. “That’s what needs to happen and that’s the role of the Therapeutics Initiative.”
Lake called Farnworth’s response a “bogus argument.”
“At the time they wanted to look at the real world — they call it — environment here in B. C., the drug had only been approved for a couple of months. There weren’t very many people using it, so I really don’t buy that argument,” he said. “It’s being used as a political football, quite frankly, because there is some funds that have been withheld pending our investigation over a serious data breach that involves some people connected to the Therapeutics Initiative.”