Canada's cheaper drugs anger U.S. drug giants

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Canada's cheaper drugs anger U.S. drug giants

 

Fierce lobbying against subsidized prices

Chris CobbCanWest News Service

Monday, June 09, 2003

 

OTTAWA - America's big drug companies are intensifying their lobbying efforts to

" change the Canadian health-care system " and eliminate subsidized prescription

drug prices enjoyed by Canadians.

 

A prescription drug industry spokesman in Washington confirmed to CanWest News

Service that information contained in confidential industry documents is

accurate and that $1 million US is being added to the already heavily funded

drug lobby against the Canadian system.

 

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known collectively as

PhRMA, is also furiously targeting Canada's new and booming multimillion dollar

Internet pharmacy industry, which is providing prescription drugs to American

customers at significantly lower prices than in the United States.

 

The U.S. industry claims the Internet business is putting U.S. patients at risk.

 

According to the documents leaked to media in the United States last week, PhRMA

has budgeted a further $450,000 US to specifically attack the legitimacy of the

online drug industry, which is centred in Manitoba but also operates out of

Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

 

" We believe price controls are bad for patients because it takes away

innovation, " said Mark Grayson, PhRMA's senior director of public affairs. " The

Canadian system couldn't exist without the United States and we're trying to

ensure that there is some burden-sharing with the Canadian consumer to enjoy the

fruits of the medicines they are using. "

 

Grayson said elimination of subsidies would benefit Canadians because they would

have access to more medicine and would see an increase in the amount of research

and development done in Canada.

 

The $1 million earmarked for a Canadian lobby and public relations campaign is

not a huge amount, said Grayson.

 

" It is money to look at the problem and to help patients in Canada realize that

they need a different system. "

 

Canadian critics reject PhRMA's claims and warn that deregulation would lead to

skyrocketing drug costs and leave ordinary Canadians in the same boat as

millions of Americans, who have inadequate medical insurance and are unable to

afford drugs prescribed by doctors.

 

Emergency room physician Joel Lexchin, an associate professor at the School of

Health Policy at York University in Toronto, said PhRMA wants to smear the

Canadian system because prices in Canada make U.S. drug companies look bad.

 

" Lots of other countries have similar regulations, " he said, " but it's Canada's

proximity to the U.S. that makes the difference. It puts pressure on (the) U.S.

government to do something about drug prices in the States. So PhRMA will want

to create the impression that government-funded health care is bad for you, in

the sense that you can't get services or access to some drugs. "

 

The prescription drug industry is a massive business. In Canada, sales of

prescription drugs top $12 billion annually with around 65-70 per cent of that

spent on brand name products. In the United States, it is more than 10 times

that. The market in both countries is increasing dramatically and steadily as

the population ages and new drugs are introduced.

 

Dr. Lexchin, a longtime advocate for low drug prices, rejects PhRMA's claim that

the regulated system is preventing Canadians getting access to certain drugs.

 

" I have been following this business for 30 years now, " he said, " and the bottom

line is that nothing of value pharmacologically is being kept from Canadians.

There are drugs not available here but only because there is no market for them

-- tropical disease medicine, for instance. "

 

Alongside its battle against Canadian online pharmacies, the prescription drug

industry is also locked in a fierce battle with its generic counterpart in

Canada over patent regulations introduced in the dying days of the Mulroney Tory

government a decade ago.

 

There is already intense lobbying around the regulation issue by both sides.

 

The prescription industry says it is essential that its companies be protected

and allowed to recoup the millions of dollars it costs to develop and improve

the efficacy of drugs.

 

Ottawa Citizen

 

© Copyright 2003 Edmonton Journal

 

 

 

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