Health committee  They have found that where they imposed mandatory reporting, even for health professionals like physicians in France, they didn't get any higher rates of reporting of adverse effects. As I said, it might be wasted energy.

Health committee  Let me begin with the point you mentioned about the discrepancy between the 10,000 and the 24,000 of hospitalizations. I raised the 10% just as one-tenth of the U.S. But my figure is a little different from what Ross Baker would suggest, because his figure also combines misprescr

Health committee  Yes, I think the group that does the studies has to be independent. Usually when Health Canada is involved, they work with industry, and the necessary arm's-length independence for the studies is missing. I think Alan's suggestion is a good one. You need an arm's-length industry

Health committee  That's right, and you want to put patients' lives in the balance. As Robyn had pointed out earlier, you are experimenting on people. The administrators in the FDA have admitted, in a published journal, that in the first two years they don't recommend taking a new drug because we

Health committee  I think you're identifying a huge problem. Right now what I'm seeing, especially in the U.S., is that lawsuits are now taking the place of the regulatory role. If you take a look at, for example, antipsychotic medications, one I'm familiar with is Zyprexa. A very significant sid

Health committee  I think the problem is, as Mr. Cassels mentioned, that the advertising comes from the United States. In Canada, companies are not allowed to do this. If you want to draw up new legislation, perhaps you should prohibit Canadian broadcasters carrying American programs from broadcas

Health committee  Yes, that is what Alan showed. Companies are not allowed to associate a product to a condition, but they manage to do certain things without associating the drugs to the condition.

Health committee  I think the post-market aspect of this bill is important, because you need that capacity to be able to do the research, as my colleagues and I have pointed out. But when it comes to the pre-market portion of the bill, I get afraid. For example, as you mentioned with Vioxx, would

Health committee  Sure. So while national approaches are emerging, international coordination could also hold the potential to extend global resources and to address this policy challenge. In order to be a global participant in this kind of international cooperation, it's in Canada's interest

Health committee  I thank the committee for inviting me here today to engage in this dialogue. Let me begin by saying that although pharmaceuticals are assessed for safety and efficacy at the pre-market stage, current pre-market evaluation is really recognized as incomplete. While the strength o