Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The manufacture of pharmaceuticals is absolutely global. It's not unusual to have a pharmaceutical where the active pharmaceutical ingredient comes from one country, the first part of manufacturing happens in another country and then maybe packaging and labelling happens in another country before it would come to the country in which it's sold. That's why it's really important that we have harmonized international standards to make sure that regardless of where those ingredients come from or where the finished drug product comes, they meet the standards for safety, efficacy and quality in Canada.
That's the case no matter where it's manufactured. An incredible amount of work goes on internationally on standards for the places where the manufacturing is happening, through what we call “good manufacturing practices”. That's basically the same everywhere in the world.
As well, there's a lot of work on harmonization of the technical standards of how those medications are looked at. A group called the International Council on Harmonisation involves multiple countries from around the world, along with industry, to put together those technical standards.
Again, because of the global nature, it's really important that we have harmonization and can rely on those medications being safe and effective and of high quality.