Health Committee on Oct. 18th, 2012

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

I did have a question just out of curiosity. You mentioned the common drug review, and you said “everyone except Quebec”. Then you said another thing regarding innovation and technologies and you said “except Quebec”. I just wondered why that is.

[Dr. Brian O'Rourke]

It's probably a better question for our colleagues from Quebec. They have their own agency, Institut national d'excellence en services sociaux. It does very similar work to what we do. We do have a memorandum of understanding in place with that organization as well, so we do some collaborative work. We are always looking at the reports that each of us does so there is some consistency.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Does each province have its own decision-making processes sometimes in this regard, jurisdictionally and things like that?

[Dr. Brian O'Rourke]

All provinces still have their own decision-making. We're not the decision-making body. We provide the recommendations to them, but we have taken away the need for them to have this major review done.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Excellent, thank you very much.

Dr. Beaudet, you mentioned different investments. I appreciate the leadership role you are taking at CIHR. You gave some examples about innovation at Ryerson and Dalhousie. You were saying it's not just about the new tools and gadgets, but it's about business in this country as well. I was wondering how these investments in emerging technologies aid in Canada's economic recovery and in helping to create wealth and jobs. We are investing in science and research, but in the end we're getting good quality jobs out of it. Could you elaborate on that?

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

Certainly. It acts on creating jobs at many different levels. For instance, it starts with the grant. As you know, we are giving out over $900 million in grants per year. These grants pay people. They pay students and graduate students. They pay for research professionals who work on the research projects. In fact, the expendables account for only 20% of our grants. This is in itself a job creation enterprise.

In addition to that, as you well know, in many cases these discoveries will lead to start-ups, as I explained with the example of Ryerson. These start-ups will bring in capital and will provide jobs. They clearly benefit our economy. We have heard it from many fronts that we need to foster better collaboration between industry and the academic sector so that there is a takeover by industry at one point and greater industrial investments in R and D, which as you know is one of the weaknesses in our country. It would obviously also lead to job creation.

Economically, we cannot ignore a very important fact. A population in good health is a productive population. Productivity is a huge issue for Canada. I can tell you that the day we are able to control mental health in the workplace and low back pain, we will have increased productivity to quite an extent, and that will affect our economy.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

As a chiropractor, I am really pleased to hear that.

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

I knew you would be.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

I know what you are talking about.

Do I have time for another quick question about nanotechnology?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

No, you don't, Dr. Carrie. I am sorry about that.

Thank you so much for your questions, Dr. Carrie, and your answers, Dr. Beaudet.

We will now go to Dr. Duncan. Welcome to the committee, Dr. Duncan.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thanks, Madam Chair. It's nice to be here and see you all. Thank you to the witnesses. Thank you for sharing exciting research.

I am just filling in today, so I don't know the history. I know this is the first day of this study. I am going to ask about innovation more broadly, not just technical innovation.

Ms. Sabourin, in 2010 the FDA introduced plain language labelling for drug labels and monographs. Health Canada has been talking about introducing a similar policy since 2000. I am wondering when the agency will do so.

[Barbara Sabourin]

Plain language labelling is certainly one of the initiatives we are trying to move forward. It is something we feel is important for all Canadians. That's because it's important for Canadians to understand the risks and the benefits of the products they are taking. That is an initiative under the regulatory road map that I mentioned earlier. It is in the first phase, so we are trying to move that forward on the regulatory side fairly rapidly.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Could you give me a timeline for that, please?

[Barbara Sabourin]

It's very difficult to give you a complete timeline for regulatory processes because they go through the formal Government of Canada process, the Canada Gazette, part I, and then the Canada Gazette, part II.

My understanding is that we're hoping to have something in the Canada Gazette, part I, I believe this fall, which would mean prior to December, but I would rather not give you full dates on that because I might be off a bit. Let's even say that by the end of June we would have something in the Canada Gazette, part I. Our normal process is to have them published, as you know, for a 75-day comment, and then to analyze the comments and come back through the Canada Gazette, part II.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

That's fine.

[Barbara Sabourin]

In these kinds of—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

No, that's fine. Thank you.

[Barbara Sabourin]

If I could—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I'll move on. Thank you.

[Barbara Sabourin]

Okay.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

The FDA and the European Medicines Agency now make the studies it bases on drug approval public. I'm wondering when Health Canada will do the same.

[Barbara Sabourin]

This relates to openness and transparency on the part of our department and specifically our branch. We do have a number of initiatives to move forward in that area. At the moment, we already make available publicly product monographs for each drug that is approved. Those can be found on the Health Canada website. Those documents outline the conditions of use and the risks and benefits for the particular products.

In addition, we make available what is called a summary basis of decision for many drugs and medical devices that are approved through the priority review process. Those documents are meant to be a complement to the product monograph and outline the basis on which we made our decision to approve the products.

As recently as September we—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Dr. Sabourin, I'm aware of that. I did ask a very specific question. I'm wondering if you could answer that specific question, please.

[Barbara Sabourin]

I'm sorry, could you repeat that part?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

The FDA and the European Medicines Agency now make the studies it bases on drug approval public. I'll give you some background. Since May, I've tried to find out about the drug review process for Gilenya. I was promised a briefing. Then on July 3 I received a call from the Minister of Health's office, who asked that I retract my public order paper question in order to have that briefing. I said that I would not do that and they would get back to me on July 4 about the promised briefing. On August 23, I learned that the review was finished.

People would really like to understand, particularly when there are risks to taking certain drugs, how the decision is made. Will Health Canada be doing the same in the future?