Health committee  I have a bit of information about that. What I understand from that situation is that this drug was for export only when they discovered a problem with it. It wasn't a drug that was used within Canada. So that company is making products that go outside Canada, when maybe a prior

Health committee  I think it's really important—again going back to the leadership—in that we really need to have some central kind of place where those reporting can be. We also absolutely need a safe supply of medications and whatever it takes to get there. Even when I say leadership, I don't

Health committee  You mean for not having consistent supply?

Health committee  I think it would be an important factor to put in. If I were in those shoes, I probably would try to build in a lot of those kinds of things, except I imagine if I were in that role there would be a lot of pressure back for concessions in other areas. What we saw, again, in my e

Health committee  Be there. The patients need to be there. Feedback about that particular disease would have been so helpful had the decision-makers known how different these medications were. The study is available, should the committee want it. It's in the PPI class, which is for proton pump i

Health committee  We're trying. We're doing our part. Thank you.

Health committee  Absolutely not; I would not do it. I'm co-author of a study looking at patients who switched from one brand name to another—so I'm not even talking about generic drugs. It was predicted by B.C., where I'm from, that it would save $42 million in health care costs, and it actuall

Health committee  Quickly, while the provincial and territorial bodies have a role in reimbursement, it's actually Health Canada that has the role in notice of compliance for medications. There's certainly an area on which to piggyback safety and supply.

Health committee  Thanks for that. In summarizing, what we're saying here are three clear things. First, patients need to be involved all along the way. Second, we're looking for the government to take leadership in an investigation as to what happened. Third, we want to know how we can come up w

Health committee  First of all, Madam Chair, thank you very much for the invitation to come here and discuss some of the issues. Our coalition is an alliance of 27 health charities and individuals who are advocating for better health care around access to medications, including the drug shortages