Mr. Speaker, the member has identified an area of public interest and public good that is extraordinarily important. It is the availability of these pharmaceuticals in developing countries where the need is so great.
We have to find ways to balance the profit motivation of research based pharmaceuticals with the public good of having the drugs available to people in more cost effective and timely ways. That is where government can play a role. If we look at the long term cost of treatment with leading edge pharmaceuticals versus not doing anything at all, it is a better investment to treat them. The member, as a physician who has worked in developing countries, is absolutely right in suggesting that CIDA could play a role.
The governments of Canada, provincial and federal, could work together to play a role in ensuring that the profit motivation is not weakened for the research based pharmaceuticals to develop the new technologies. Developing new drugs is a lot like mineral exploration. A lot of holes are dug before hitting a vein of minerals. No pun intended on the vein.
Drug research is expensive and not all research initiatives actually yield results. We should not do anything to reduce the financial incentives that create opportunities in biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals but we should be addressing in a more innovative way the question of what role government has in ensuring the public good and by facilitating the public's access to the drugs in a cost effective and timely manner.
I proposed for consideration the notion of having governments purchase the technologies through an option process once the technologies are developed. This is similar to a proposal published in the Economist about three years ago. There was a study done on it and it is one area of debate that we should consider and be engaged in. It would be a way to balance the profit motivation of private interests to ensure that we continue to develop the leading edge pharmaceuticals that we need.
It would also ensure that governments have a role in delivering new technologies and pharmaceuticals to the public whether they be here or in developing countries where the need, as the hon. member suggested, is absolutely critical. We can make strong arguments in favour of a government role on the second part of the issue. The priority should be, once the drugs are developed, to get the drugs to the people who need them the most whether they are in our country or in the developing world.