In a move that a health care advocacy group says is like “putting biker gangs in charge of street crime,” British Columbia is handing pharmaceutical companies more control over drug coverage decisions by giving them advanced inside information.
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Sept. 30 memo from B.C. Deputy Health Minister John Dyble to “stakeholders” invited to a closed-door meeting last month promised “increased sponsor engagement” giving drugmakers four separate “engagement points” in the “enhanced review process” that determines which products are included in the province’s PharmaCare formulary.
Industry, according to the memo, will now have “an opportunity to comment both pre-and-post Drug Benefit Council recommendation and pre-and-post Ministry decision.”
The memo also outlines other ways the government is implementing recommendations stemming from an industry dominated
Pharmaceutical Task Force it set up two years ago.
“The government is essentially reporting to industry that they are obediently dismantling what should be a model for pharmacare in the rest of Canada,” says Michael McBane of the Canadian Health Coalition. “What they’re not saying is that the changes to B.C.’s drug review program are putting lives at risk and will add millions of dollars to the province’s drug bill.”
The Task Force wants to erode any role in the drug approval process for the
Therapeutics Initiative, an independent group of researchers at the University of British Columbia that has been conducting evidence-based drug reviews for the B.C. government since 1994.
The TI team is much lauded in Canada and internationally for fostering a culture of evidence-based medicine among physicians, instead of a culture of what McBane calls a culture of “marketing-based medicine” rampant in the rest of Canada.
“Because of the work of those researchers, B.C. citizens pay on average 27 per cent less on prescription drugs per capita than in the rest of Canada, and benefit from the best therapeutic choices available and enjoy the best health outcomes in the country,” he said.
Supporters of the UBC-based TI say it has also been instrumental in saving lives by warning of the potential dangers of medications such as the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx. The restrictions placed on its use following recommendations from the organization are estimated to have saved around 500 lives in the province.
CAUT has been working closely with the TI to try to protect its future.
“Both the government and UBC should be protecting these researchers and working together to find ways to expand their role, not limit it,” said CAUT executive director James Turk.
He said a delegation of the UBC Faculty Association and CAUT recently met with the president of UBC, Stephen Toope, “urging him to stand up for the Therapeutics Initiative and to help ensure the group can continue its valuable academic and public work.”