Industry committee  You're very kind, Mr. Chair, and you're about to deal with people who really know what they're talking about. Thank you.

Industry committee  I don't know enough about the second item you mentioned, on the competition between the generics and the brand names, Keith—it's nice to be able to call you Keith, and I know Brian, so at least I know a couple of people on a first-name basis. I think it would raise enormous compl

Industry committee  I think I would say two or three things: number one, that I believe the intent of the legislation is good but do not believe the legislation is good. I believe the legislation is deeply flawed and have said so, and I think it needs pretty significant amendment to make it work. Bu

Industry committee  The loss of human capacity is a nightmare. I think it's acknowledged everywhere that the damage to many sectors—health, education, agriculture—is severe, and deeply severe. One of the problems in rolling out treatment is that we've lost so many people, we often don't have enough

Industry committee  Yes, and I think my NGO colleagues would want to argue strongly that this was never intended purely and solely for HIV. That's my preoccupation, not theirs. They would argue, I think, equally that this listing of particular drugs is not compatible with the open opportunity that w

Industry committee  That's a terribly interesting question. Thank you for asking it. I think that some of the host governments are doing a superlative job. The Government of Botswana, the Government of Rwanda, the Government of Uganda--these governments are working very hard and quite effectively.

Industry committee  I think, in one sense, it's the quality of the political leadership that has made of the pandemic a cause célèbre, and everybody is intensely involved. What many of them have done is remove all costs from drugs, so that drugs are free. They then understood that you shouldn't conc

Industry committee  Madame Brunelle, that's a very good point, and it's a point with which I would not take issue. I think what you're essentially saying is that we have what we call the millennium development goals. Each and every one of them should be attended to; each and every one of them places

Industry committee  I think it's worth noting that the brand name pharmaceutical industry cannot begin to compete with the prices that have been negotiated for generic drugs. The brand names, even at best, are between $500 and $800 per person per year. The Clinton Foundation negotiated a price ini

Industry committee  Undoubtedly it's a step, but I hope people realize that it's only a step. And relative to the need, it will never be an adequate step. The situation in some respects is so overwhelming. I don't consider that we can't deal with it, but it is vast. And everyone is trying to chip

Industry committee  There is no question that India is now the source of most of the drugs that are providing antiretroviral treatment around the world, and overwhelmingly the source for drugs in Africa. They're being used increasingly even by the American presidential initiative.They're being used

Industry committee  I've always believed that the federal government, if it increases its percentage of GNP for ODA—and we're going down, I noticed—could use a large chunk of that to support drug purchase and improvement of health systems, infrastructure, etc. But frankly, it would be a much great

Industry committee  As the legislation is now constituted, the measures in to identify the drugs by way of colour or container in a specific fashion would prevent diversion, and that is true of many of the drugs that are coming from various sources. The problem isn't so much, frankly, one of diver

Industry committee  When you say “nations”, Mr. McTeague, do you mean in the west or in Africa?

Industry committee  I believe there is legislation in place, as I guess is evident from the policy or discussion paper before you, from disparate groups like Norway, Holland, Switzerland, etc. That legislation, not all of which is as well developed as Canada's, has not yet been acted on. Nor have th