Thank you.
Medicine pricing is a global decision by our organizations. We bring innovative medicines to 160 countries around the world, so we need to consider global issues when it comes to medicine pricing.
Here in Canada the pricing of medicines is significantly controlled, and has been since the early 1990s. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board here in Ottawa is a federal agency operating under legislation that uses very specific and controlled rules to set prices. They compare Canadian prices versus a basket of seven other international countries, European countries and the United States.
From that point the medicine goes to a health technology assessment agency, primarily under the common drug review. There's a different body in Quebec called INESSS. There, what they are looking at is value for money. They are determining whether the medicine will bring value to the health care system compared to what is currently available to treat illness. Finally, or almost finally, from there it moves on to a provincial process. All 10 provinces are involved. That's called the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance where they will negotiate significant price discounts. In fact, in the past 24 months the pCPA has saved $500 million for the Canadian health care system.