Evidence of meeting #46 for Health in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was price.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
Do you ever try to investigate it? Surely they talk to you about why they are not meeting their targets. It has never happened that every company has hit the same numbers--say, 9%--in a year.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
Some companies do well and some companies don't. Do you ask them what percentage of their profits they're investing in research?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
They are obliged to report to us. I can't tell you the technical details of that, but some companies do better than others.
If you asked a large drug manufacturer why they aren't investing more in research and development in Canada they may not tell you, or they may tell you it's because they find the regulatory environment on prices too oppressive. In other words, if you got rid of the PMPRB they would charge what they want and invest relatively more here.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
Thank you.
Do you have any other suggestions for us as we receive information from the PMPRB? I'm quite excited by the fact that you seem to be doing more and doing it more aggressively. Do you have any other ideas for improving this regimen that was set up that many years ago?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
We were asked in 2005, after the national pharmaceutical strategy initiative got started, to start reporting on non-patented medicines--generics. We are wondering whether we will be given greater responsibility in that area. In terms of the patented medicines themselves, we feel we have sufficient tools to do the work.
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
That's part of this NPPDP initiative. We're asked to report and we put out quarterly reports. Some of the findings in these reports are fairly interesting. You may be surprised.
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
Yes. We publish this separately, but it's in our annual report.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
I have one other question before we close on this whole rule about the comparator countries and the fact that we are not supposed to exceed the median price. I understand that in the last year or so we have gone one percent above the median price.
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
Actually we haven't. The median international price is sort of our benchmark, and we have a hard and fast rule that the Canadian price cannot be the highest in the world. We are actually 92% of the median international price. So we're basically 8% below the seven countries to which we're compared.
Some ask why we aren't compared to Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In any event, the Patent Act set up seven countries and we're bound by that.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
What would happen to that calculation if you eliminated the United States as one of the comparator countries?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
I couldn't tell you offhand what would happen. The United States is almost always the highest, and Italy is the lowest. The others are in there. Presumably the international median would go down if you excluded the United States.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Thank you.
For the committee, your annual report comes out in June.
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
We're going to submit it to the Minister of Health in May. We're sort of one year behind for 2006.
Luc Malo Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will pursue the same line of questioning, on the sales price of drugs. Could you tell me how the countries that are part of the comparison group have been selected?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
Mr. Malo, this comes out of the Patent Act. The seven countries have been determined 20 years ago, in 1987. These seven countries are Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, the United States... They are the Western European countries.
Bloc
Luc Malo Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC
Is it still relevant to use these same countries 20 years later?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
These countries have been selected because their health system is similar to ours. I believe that its on this basis that they have been selected in 1987.
Bloc
Luc Malo Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC
Would it not be interesting to review this matter? For example, do these countries have a medicine prices regulation system?