Thank you, Ms. Perrault.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I am pleased to join you today through technology.
As a former CEO of a Canadian biopharma firm, it is my role today to tell you that if this reform goes forward, it will contribute to delaying and reducing the amount of innovation and innovative therapies that make it to Canada. I'm absolutely convinced of that. I sit in one of those seats, and I can assure you that this is what would happen.
How can I say that?
Imagine for a moment that you have a Tesla, which costs $100,000 apiece in the U.S., but the reform is asking us to have it at $50,000 apiece in Canada. Therefore, an entrepreneur like me, facing that situation just like the head of Tesla, would decide not to launch the Tesla in Canada anymore. That's what would happen, because of cross-border trade, because of the fact that it would put undue pressure on the two markets. That's what this reform will do, so people sitting where I sit today will actually decide not to launch.
Does this mean that we cannot reduce the price of pharmaceuticals in Canada? The answer is no, because this is just the wrong reform for doing it. If you want to have lower prices, you have to get to the negotiation table with provinces and find creative ways to reduce prices based on targeted populations, based on performance, where pharma companies can make sure that we're held accountable for the performance of our medicines.
The point is that what you have on the table now is the wrong reform to do whatever you want to do.
I just want to wrap up here and I'll be very happy to answer your questions. There are ways to bring innovative medicines at good prices in Canada, but this is the wrong way to do it. I have a lot of ideas. We have not exhausted the ideas, but we have to get out of that box and find other solutions.
Thank you very much.