Health committee  Very quickly, such an agency would not require much in the way of resources but the commitment of the industry, the government politically, and the regulators to accept an independent agency that functions in a quasi-judicial fashion and cannot be influenced by the money of the i

Health committee  Regarding the first question on off-label usage, Health Canada and other regulatory bodies—not Health Canada alone—leave practitioners in the lurch, because we have a system in which the manufacturer asks for the drug to go to market for particular uses, the so-called indications

Health committee  You're talking about what goes out to doctors.

Health committee  I'm sorry. I misunderstood your question.

Health committee  Yes, there is a huge deficit on Health Canada's part in the manner in which they communicate with physicians. There has been a long-standing attitude within the department that the system doesn't work because the doctors don't send them reports, so what obligation does Health Can

Health committee  The recommended solution is to have transparency in the system. It is to demand that the ways in which the department is assessing the information and the reasons behind their communications are transparent, so doctors can judge whether they agree with what's been done and said w

Health committee  Again, the problem is not the reporting process; the problem is the very delayed analysis of reports at Health Canada. Real-time reporting already exists. When you go to the website and fill out the adverse reaction reporting form, it's transmitted almost instantly to Health Cana

Health committee  Regarding the history of Health Canada's attempts at what is loosely termed “legislative renewal” for the Food and Drugs Act, you're correct that there have been numerous attempts in the past. For example, in the late 1990s there was an intention to roll the Food and Drugs Act in

Health committee  Yes, I think that your question is very pertinent, and it demonstrates the limitations of post-marketing surveillance. On the early part of your question about how we establish a link, a causal link, between a marketed product, a vaccine or a drug, and the adverse events that we

Health committee  As a practising physician, I have reported adverse drug reactions. It is equivalent to putting a note in a bottle and sending it into the ocean. There's no feedback at all. The second thing is that in the time that I was a senior officer with Health Canada and involved in advers

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am Dr. Michèle Brill-Edwards. Today I'm representing the Canadian Health Coalition. I'm a member of the board of the coalition. I'm replacing Mr. McBain, who could not attend today. The Health Coalition has a mission to preserve and strengthen public me

Health committee  Mr. Chair, I would be very pleased to give two minutes of my time to Mr. Young.