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.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much, Dr. Benoit, for your presentation. I have certainly learned a lot about your operation here this afternoon that I wasn't aware of before.
The one thing I am quite curious about is the 76% increase that you're looking at for this fiscal year. How are you going to divide that increase? You have this planned spending, so how is that going to be divided between your two core responsibilities?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
Well, we now have an average price of the cost of each hearing, and I hope you don't ask me how much it is, because it's.... Well, I'll tell you. The average price of a hearing from start to finish, and we're not finished there, is estimated to be something like $600,000. So it's a serious undertaking. That's the cost to the taxpayer, as it were, not the cost of the pharmaceutical industry.
The terms of the revision of our guidelines, if they are revised.... We had five public consultations in five different cities in November 2006, and there was a cost associated with that. I can't tell you the precise number. We hope to have at least one other public consultation, probably here in Ottawa, and we're consulting with various experts in the field, which all carries a certain cost. But most of our price increase is for the hearings.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Okay. So can you tell me, then, about your current human resources numbers, as opposed to what you will be having? You have this huge increase in budget amount. How about your numbers of employees?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
Barbara knows the exact number.
Barbara Ouellet Executive Director, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
As a result of the additional funding, there will be 15 additional staff, many of whom have already been hired, because this funding actually began in the fiscal year we're currently in. That would be added to the 47 we already have, so it will bring us up to 62.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Okay. Thank you.
So your main priorities, then, for this coming year, what are they going to be?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
We hope to complete most of our hearings. We have two notices of hearings that were just issued in the past couple of weeks, and these will obviously not be completed this year, but most of the others will be completed this year. We'll have made some major advances in terms of the revision of our guidelines if we do that. By the end of this year we'll be much more focused on what, if anything, we're going to do.
Liberal
Colleen Beaumier Liberal Brampton West, ON
I want to go on the record as saying that when governments and most insurance companies encourage the purchase of generic drugs, I know that if you have a government contract in private business, they have the right to go in to inspect the books, look at the profit margin, and audit what you're doing. I'm not really sure if it was a will on the part of the insurance companies or on the part of the governments purchasing these products that it could be done.
I don't understand why—and I don't think you do either—generic drugs aren't significantly cheaper than brand-name drugs. Are you anticipating having the generic drugs assigned to your organization?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
There has been talk that they would be, but we'll accept the responsibility if it's given to us.
Liberal
Colleen Beaumier Liberal Brampton West, ON
On what we're talking about here, is there a will on the part of government?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
It's a question you'll have to ask the government.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Mr. Dykstra has a couple of questions, and then we'll move on.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
I only have a couple, Mr. Chair, and I'll be brief.
One of the overall questions I had was on the involvement of the PMPRB in the common drug review. How does it work, or how is it facilitated?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
We're an observer on the common drug review. The common drug review is the organization that recommends drugs to provincial formularies for provincial drug plans. As a result, we sit as an observer, but we have no direct role in the determinations.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
For example, if a new chemotherapy drug were introduced or requested by a province to be on their formulary, would you actually investigate to determine whether or not you thought it would be a positive recommendation, and then you'd take it to the province, or would you act once they've asked you to take it on?
Chairperson, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
If the company begins to sell it in Canada, we will then look at the price it is being sold at to see whether it's excessive. We compare it to drugs in the same therapeutic class, and sometimes we then go to the international media. That is our role.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
I have another question with respect to prices internationally. I guess I've noticed this personally, but I've also had people talk to me about the comparison of the cost of generic drugs in Canada versus the cost of generic drugs in the United States. Are we lower or are we higher than the average?
