Evidence of meeting #36 for Public Accounts in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was drug.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
We should be comfortable knowing that you will be following up on this audit.
Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
We haven't made any specific decisions about which audits we will follow up on and whether this will be one or not. We certainly see this as quite an important audit. We see that there were a number of concerns raised by it. Yes, we are considering it.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
That's the magic. Nobody knows which ones you're going to follow up on. It's all good. We all have to behave.
Madam Yeates, I want to focus on the transparency issue. You've heard the passion on all sides of this committee. As parliamentarians we understand the importance of sharing information with the public. When it comes to authorized drug trials, there are a few aspects that I want your view on.
It's important for those in the trials to have access to the information. This is also important for people who end up on those drugs. I would suggest it's very important for Canadians who are making a decision about taking that drug. We are now seeing more and more that people's physicians will say to take a drug, and people will say, wait a second, and they're going to the Internet and they're verifying it. Certainly, parents do that for their children all the time. Obviously, the Auditor General focused in on your risk-based approach with regard to the inspection of clinical trials. There were a number of cases of non-compliance that you had also determined.
What actions are you taking, as a department, to disclose the information related to the clinical trial inspections in those three parts: the participants, the prospective users, and the users?
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
There are five actions that I would bring to the committee's attention. First, if someone gets an approval from us in a clinical trial, we encourage them to register the clinical trial at a publicly available registry endorsed by the WHO. As the business becomes increasingly international, we think this is helpful for patients.
Secondly, we require that the product monographs be posted. Individual consumers are looking for drugs that are on the market to understand if they might be interested in taking them. Those are in a searchable database that Health Canada has. We are working to make, as my colleague mentioned, the labels easier to read, because sometimes the monographs can be—
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
How are you making it easier for a mother, or a person who has an older parent.... How are you making it easier for that Canadian to access this information?
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
There is a searchable database where Canadians can see individual drugs.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
So as members of Parliament on all sides of this table, would we be able to provide that information and that link to our constituents?
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
Maybe I'll ask my colleagues to speak to this, but yes.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
That would be helpful.
Thank you.
I would like to specify that I think the Auditor General is really an added value.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Just very briefly, Mr. Chair, in response to the member's question, I would be happy to provide the link to the various parts of our database.
We have a newsletter that people can subscribe to for adverse events, so that they don't have to go searching. If they're worried about adverse events in a range of drugs and want product updates, that is sent to them directly, automatically.
So we have a newsletter, and we have automatic feeds—
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
So you have a link that we could all access and we could all share with our constituents. How many hits do you get on this, normally?
Because I'm willing to bet you that if we all shared it, it would be....
Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
I apologize; I don't have that number off the top of my head. But it is growing significantly each and every year.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Through the chair, may we respectfully request that we all receive this information so that we can share it with all of our constituents?
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Okay.
Thank you very much, all of you.
I knew I would be cut off.
NDP
The Chair NDP David Christopherson
Yes, well, I could show you that you did get your share of the generosity, I assure you.
Moving on, Mr. Byrne, you have the floor, sir.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think it would be fair to say the committee, and the House of Commons generally, is seized not with the existence of an action plan, but the content of the action plan and exactly what information will indeed be disclosed over the course of time, and sooner rather than later.
Deputy Minister, you mentioned that just a few days ago you published summary reports about clinical trial inspections. How were they published?
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
It's an aggregate report that has been published. It's the first one we've done of that type.
Perhaps I'll ask my colleague to speak more to that.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
How was it distributed? That's the better question.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
It's been posted on our website, so it's available to all Canadians for them to query.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
And it's not an infringement of privacy to do so.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
This is an aggregate report. This is the first in a series of steps we'll be taking to improve transparency in clinical trials. These are all trials: the types of issues we've seen, the types of trials being run, etc.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Okay. So it doesn't actually provide any information if....
If someone were considering participating in a clinical trial for psoriasis, for a particular psoriasis drug, this doesn't actually provide them with any specific information as to whether or not that trial is being managed effectively.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
It does provide information on trial management, the types of issues—