Thank you for the question.
We've spent a lot of time today talking about the things we have done in response to this crisis, including the special access program and the expediting of reviews and approvals. They were in response to the crisis.
We would like to take action to help the entire system better manage, and in fact prevent, crises as we move forward, so we will continue to push very hard for that one-stop site and will require the drug companies to post the information to that site for the benefit of all. It would be for my agency so that we can do our part. It would be for the provinces and territories so that they can do their part in planning for these shortages and can mitigate them. It would be for bulk purchasers, who could look at their supply and what's happening and respond accordingly. Finally, it would be for local practitioners, so that they can be aware that if they have patients who need those medications, they may need to come up with alternative treatment plans and know what substitutes are available to them. That website will be critical, in the longer term, to being able to do those things.
While we're very pleased that the drug companies have come forward and have said that they're committed to that site, we frankly don't want the drug companies running that site. We think it's beneficial that the site be run by a neutral third party. We believe that a group like CADTH would be ideally positioned. We're in contact with the provinces and territories to explore feasibility and whether there's unanimous agreement that it would be the best place to house this kind of information clearinghouse.
That would also position CADTH to play a unique role in terms of the expertise it has in alternate therapies and in gathering best practices they're already aware of within the health system and distributing them to all the players.
We will continue to push for the requirement, as per the motion that was debated and passed in the House. We will push to make sure that we have this one-stop site up and available, not just for Health Canada—we have our role to play—but for all levels of the health care system, so that they can take the appropriate action to respond.
I know that this is a long answer. I apologize to the member.
Finally, we will continue to encourage and have dialogue with other jurisdictions about what's working in the attempt to adopt best practices. We firmly believe, as this committee has heard, in some of the practices in place in other jurisdictions, in particular those that have clauses in the supply arrangements that first and foremost diversify supply. Sole-source arrangements are dangerous. We've seen that in the past and we continue to believe that this is the case.
We understand that moving to diversify supply has an impact on price, so we'll continue to work with the provinces and territories to make sure that we have best practices for distribution, diversification of supply, pricing arrangements, and other things. We will offer any support and assistance we can to encourage them to do that.