Evidence of meeting #9 for Health in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was drug.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Time is really up, but is it the will of the committee...? Could we please give Mr. Thibault a minute to ask a quick question?
Will you be brief?
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
All right, if you can do that, we'll do it very quickly. We ask our presenters to answer as briefly as they can, because we have other duties we have to get to.
Mr. Thibault.
1 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
Thank you.
If you can't fully answer, then perhaps you could submit....
Building on Mr. Fletcher's point, I'm pleased about the progressive licensing, where we can get out breakthrough drugs as quickly as possible to benefit...and then we continue. But this brings about the problem of off-label use, which could be of great benefit to patients and to the medical community. Because of its use, it doesn't lend itself to adverse event reporting.
I hope you can find a way to marry the two proposals, permitting off-label use and doing the progressive licensing so they can be brought in.
1 p.m.
Director, Office of Patented Medicines and Liaison, Therapeutic Products Directorate, Department of Health
Thank you.
We're very sensitive to this discussion. We want to make sure we have the most responsible treatment there.
One of the problems with off-label is that you lose the information once it's on market. So you want to do your best by the drug whether it's on- or off-label, frankly. We need to work a lot with the prescribing and dispensing professions to do that. Again, we want to bring a lot of responsibility to that issue.
1 p.m.
NDP
Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North, MB
On a quick point of order, Madam Chair, given the fact that the revamping of the Food and Drugs Act is so intertwined with what we're studying in terms of post-market surveillance, what assurances can you give us that what we're doing has any meaning if in fact the government is on a deadline and a schedule of a 30-day consultation period and is bringing forward legislation? How can we have a meaningful role in that when in fact our schedule goes much beyond 30 days?
1 p.m.
Conservative
Steven Fletcher Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB
On the same point of order, I think this is for the steering committee and the members engaging in debate. So perhaps we could leave it up to the steering committee and the chair's discretion.
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
I have to say that it really is not a point of order, but I thank you for your comments.
I want to thank our presenters for coming today. We very much appreciated your presentations.
The meeting is adjourned.