Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have two questions.
First off, I want to thank all of our speakers here today for giving us insight into pharmaceuticals and our health system, and helping us determine whether it can adapt to innovation.
I have tremendous respect for innovation and its value, but my sense is we're putting the cart before the horse.
That said, it's distressing to hear that one in ten Canadians cannot afford their medicines. So that group of Canadians doesn't benefit from the same accessibility, treatment or even modern technology.
According to health economists, the total number of new innovative or breakthrough drugs being discovered has been stable, if not declining, since the 1990s. How do you account for that slower pace of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry since the 1990s? Is the pharmaceutical industry actually innovating or is that more of an illusion?