Patients and Health Advocates in Support of Proposed Changes to the PMPRB and a National Pharmacare Program
Background:
Beginning in 2016, Health Canada proposed changes to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB). This quasi-judicial board is mandated to ensure that Canadians pay fair prices for their pharmaceuticals. However, recent research has shown that Canadians pay 25% more for medicines when compared to countries with similar socioeconomic characteristics.
As a result of generous patent terms meant to stimulate jobs and investment, says Carleton University’s Marc Andre Gagnon, a specialist in the political economy of the pharmaceutical sector, “Canadians willfully accept to pay an additional $3.6 billion every year for patented drugs. The total economic impact of the patented drug industry in Canada (payroll and investment) is $3 billion”
Innovative Medicines Canada, the official lobbying group of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Canada, has mounted a heavily financed campaign to discredit the proposed changes, and to bully and harass the Canadian government into backing down. The lobby group has funded and rallied patient advocate groups to denounce the proposed changes as detrimental to patients’ interests.
It is time for our Canadian government to hear from the many Canadians, including patients and patient advocate groups, who are unencumbered by the influence of the pharmaceutical Industry and free to promote drug policies based solely on research evidence and on the lived experience of patients.
Our politicians need to hear that Canadians strongly support government action that will ensure access to medicines based on scientific evidence, and on policies that are both fair and sustainable.
Petition:
We, the undersigned, support the proposed changes to the PMPRB for three main reasons:
- The constant upward spiral of drug prices prevents increasing numbers of patients from gaining access to needed drugs, putting their lives and well-being at risk. Changing the list of comparator countries used to establish drug prices is a sensible strategy to protect the health of Canadians.
- Excessively high drug prices distort the allocation of health resources across the board, threatening the sustainability of the publicly-funded health care system on which all patients depend. To ensure the future of the public health care system, Canada needs the regulatory power to align drug prices and drug policies with countries that have similar health care systems.
- The Canadian government needs to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry’s threats that companies will reduce the number of research and other jobs, deny new lifesaving drugs, and end clinical trials at our research hospitals if changes to the PMPRB are implemented. The industry has a history of using the vulnerability of patients to bully governments for financial advantage. Its profits and tactics are recognized globally as serious impediments to health policies in the public interest; this needs to change.
We urge the federal government to enact reforms to the PMPRB and to institute a universal pharmacare plan.
Signed:
Cheryl-Anne Simoneau, B.A. Phil. & Soc.
Founder-Patient, The Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
Society of Canada, Montreal
Sharon Batt, PhD, author
Adjunct Professor, Bioethics and
Political Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax
Executive, N.S. Health Coalition
Co-founder, Breast Cancer Action, Quebec
Colleen Fuller, Researcher, author
Co-founder of Pharmawatch Canada
and the Society for Diabetic Rights
Vancouver
Janice E. Graham, PhD, FRSC, FCAHS
University Research Professor
Dalhousie University, Halifax
Quinn Grundy, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Nursing
University of Toronto
Marc-André Gagnon, PhD
School of Public Policy and Administration
Carleton University
Joel Lexchin, MD
Professor Emeritus
School of Health Policy and Management
Faculty of Health, York University
Toronto, Ontario
Françoise Baylis, CM, ONS, PhD, FRSC, FCAHS
University Research Professor
Dalhousie University, Halifax
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
June 7, 2019
37 Comments
Director, Breast Cancer Action Quebec. Unconscionably high drug prices cause so much distress and inaccessibility. Breast Cancer Action Quebec refuses all pharma funding. How any patient advocacy group can be against a reform that brings more effective medicines to more people at reasonable prices is incomprehensible. (Except of course if you accept pharma funding.)
Personne autre n’aurait à vivre ce que j’ai vécu aux mains de la RAMQ pour l’obtention d’un médicament qui m’a sauvé la vie et m’a finalement débarrassé de la LMC.
We should have a monopsony for our medication at the very least with a national pharmacare program to give Canadians the best care possible. Rather than the hybrid lower quality healthcare but very lucrative to a small group system we have now.
As a patient on an expensive live saving drug, I am well aware of the challenges far too many Canadians face and the inequity by province. We need a comprehensive national plan that benefits Canadians first.
Much needed drugs should be accessible to all Canadians. I've experienced a province where I had to pay for my life saving/maintaining medication and one where it is fully covered. Guess where I decided to stay?!
I support the change for the welfare of the population.
Medications are a part of our health care and should be accessible to all, regardless of their income!
Sign Petition
We never post to your account. Social sign-in is used only to verify your signature.
Add a comment?
Your signature will be added via . Tell others why you're signing — it's optional.
By signing, you accept iPetitions Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
Patients and Health Advocates in Support of Proposed Changes to the PMPRB and a National Pharmacare Program
Background:
Beginning in 2016, Health Canada proposed changes to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB). This quasi-judicial board is mandated to ensure that Canadians pay fair prices for their pharmaceuticals. However, recent research has shown that Canadians pay 25% more for medicines when compared to countries with similar socioeconomic characteristics.
As a result of generous patent terms meant to stimulate jobs and investment, says Carleton University’s Marc Andre Gagnon, a specialist in the political economy of the pharmaceutical sector, “Canadians willfully accept to pay an additional $3.6 billion every year for patented drugs. The total economic impact of the patented drug industry in Canada (payroll and investment) is $3 billion”
Innovative Medicines Canada, the official lobbying group of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Canada, has mounted a heavily financed campaign to discredit the proposed changes, and to bully and harass the Canadian government into backing down. The lobby group has funded and rallied patient advocate groups to denounce the proposed changes as detrimental to patients’ interests.
It is time for our Canadian government to hear from the many Canadians, including patients and patient advocate groups, who are unencumbered by the influence of the pharmaceutical Industry and free to promote drug policies based solely on research evidence and on the lived experience of patients.
Our politicians need to hear that Canadians strongly support government action that will ensure access to medicines based on scientific evidence, and on policies that are both fair and sustainable.
Petition:
We, the undersigned, support the proposed changes to the PMPRB for three main reasons:
- The constant upward spiral of drug prices prevents increasing numbers of patients from gaining access to needed drugs, putting their lives and well-being at risk. Changing the list of comparator countries used to establish drug prices is a sensible strategy to protect the health of Canadians.
- Excessively high drug prices distort the allocation of health resources across the board, threatening the sustainability of the publicly-funded health care system on which all patients depend. To ensure the future of the public health care system, Canada needs the regulatory power to align drug prices and drug policies with countries that have similar health care systems.
- The Canadian government needs to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry’s threats that companies will reduce the number of research and other jobs, deny new lifesaving drugs, and end clinical trials at our research hospitals if changes to the PMPRB are implemented. The industry has a history of using the vulnerability of patients to bully governments for financial advantage. Its profits and tactics are recognized globally as serious impediments to health policies in the public interest; this needs to change.
We urge the federal government to enact reforms to the PMPRB and to institute a universal pharmacare plan.
Signed:
Cheryl-Anne Simoneau, B.A. Phil. & Soc.
Founder-Patient, The Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
Society of Canada, Montreal
Sharon Batt, PhD, author
Adjunct Professor, Bioethics and
Political Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax
Executive, N.S. Health Coalition
Co-founder, Breast Cancer Action, Quebec
Colleen Fuller, Researcher, author
Co-founder of Pharmawatch Canada
and the Society for Diabetic Rights
Vancouver
Janice E. Graham, PhD, FRSC, FCAHS
University Research Professor
Dalhousie University, Halifax
Quinn Grundy, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Nursing
University of Toronto
Marc-André Gagnon, PhD
School of Public Policy and Administration
Carleton University
Joel Lexchin, MD
Professor Emeritus
School of Health Policy and Management
Faculty of Health, York University
Toronto, Ontario
Françoise Baylis, CM, ONS, PhD, FRSC, FCAHS
University Research Professor
Dalhousie University, Halifax
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
June 7, 2019
37 Comments
We need to begin to reverse the trend to extend patent rights which is so damaging to our health care system and to access to affordable medicines. The Canadian government must stop promoting private patent monopolies and start considering how to make pharmaceuticals more accessible to patients at affordable prices. We need a national phamacare plan in which the Federal government finally takes some responsibility for access to affordable medicines
Director, Breast Cancer Action Quebec. Unconscionably high drug prices cause so much distress and inaccessibility. Breast Cancer Action Quebec refuses all pharma funding. How any patient advocacy group can be against a reform that brings more effective medicines to more people at reasonable prices is incomprehensible. (Except of course if you accept pharma funding.)
Personne autre n’aurait à vivre ce que j’ai vécu aux mains de la RAMQ pour l’obtention d’un médicament qui m’a sauvé la vie et m’a finalement débarrassé de la LMC.
We should have a monopsony for our medication at the very least with a national pharmacare program to give Canadians the best care possible. Rather than the hybrid lower quality healthcare but very lucrative to a small group system we have now.
As a patient on an expensive live saving drug, I am well aware of the challenges far too many Canadians face and the inequity by province. We need a comprehensive national plan that benefits Canadians first.
Much needed drugs should be accessible to all Canadians. I've experienced a province where I had to pay for my life saving/maintaining medication and one where it is fully covered. Guess where I decided to stay?!
I support the change for the welfare of the population.
Medications are a part of our health care and should be accessible to all, regardless of their income!
Help this petition grow
Share it with friends to help reach 250 signatures.
Sign Petition
We never post to your account. Social sign-in is used only to verify your signature.
Add a comment?
Your signature will be added via .
Tell others why you're signing — it's optional.
Signing with Google or Facebook verifies your signature instantly — no email needed.
By signing, you accept iPetitions Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Petitions like this
Other petitions you might want to support
Scan to share
Anyone who scans this can sign the petition.
We need to begin to reverse the trend to extend patent rights which is so damaging to our health care system and to access to affordable medicines. The Canadian government must stop promoting private patent monopolies and start considering how to make pharmaceuticals more accessible to patients at affordable prices. We need a national phamacare plan in which the Federal government finally takes some responsibility for access to affordable medicines