If a Canadian drug is half the price of its U.S. equivalent, we will not be able to launch it. I can tell you that right now.
I have to deal with situations like that. No one else in the company makes those kinds of decisions but me. If a drug sells for $100,000 in the United States, nobody pays that, by the way, so that means it's negotiable. A list price in Canada at 50% of the U.S. price is unsustainable. We can't work in that environment.
All I can tell you is that, 20 years ago, the Canadian pharmaceutical industry was vibrant, but it's become marginalized over time because of policies like the ones we have on the table. This policy is going to result in fewer and fewer innovative drugs being introduced in Canada at a time when, as someone said earlier, a lot of these very high-value drugs are coming. We will be able to treat diseases with gene therapies that we couldn't treat before.
For cancer and all kinds of diseases, this reform comes at a very bad time. We're emerging from a pandemic, and you saw the value the industry was able to create.
What I think is right at this time is to nurture the pharmaceutical industry so that they have something homegrown that can help you out. Today you need a vaccine; tomorrow you're going to need an antibiotic. Who's going to do it, the government?
You need a strong pharma industry. Does that mean that you have to pay super high prices? The answer is no. Get a reorganization; get a reform. Dr. Morgan said that. We can be more efficient in the way we negotiate at the provincial level.
However, this is the wrong reform at the wrong time. We are actually trying to impact the wrong variable in the whole equation.
I hope I've answered your question well, Mr. Thériault.