We need to realize that health is not all about drugs. A large part of health is how we live, how we eat, how we exercise and who we interact with. Diabetes is a disease of societal change, so investing in research that leads to improved health behaviours is actually the fundamental aspect, and that's something companies won't do. We need to do it ourselves out of the public purse. That investment simply is not happening in Canada.
The second part of it is about drugs. In the short term, or even in the foreseeable future, we are not going to change the system of patents and the idea that industry is for commerce—and commerce means generating money. They will do what is needed within the limits of the law.
There is a short-term issue and a long-term issue. We can't do anything about the short-term issue in terms of what drug prices are going to be during the patent period. However, remember that if a drug is of benefit, it will be used for 50 or 100 years after the patent has expired. This is where, in Canada, we've failed. Our generic drugs are among the highest-priced in the world. They're five to 10 times more costly than those in the U.S. and several times more those in the U.K.
This is something this committee can legitimately address, and one of the things may be what is done in Brazil, where you have a national pharma-producing plant that produces essential drugs at low cost.
It is possible to tackle the long-term issues, but much tougher to deal with the short-term issues.