Mr. Speaker, the question about the profitability of brand name drug companies is a very important one because members of the four parties who support Bill S-17 feel that the excessive profits of these drug companies should be allowed to become even more exorbitant. Profits for brand name drug companies are already triple the industrial average and this industry is probably the second, if not the first, fastest growing industry in Canada.
We are not talking about companies that are making modest profits and getting a return on their investment. We are not talking about a corporate sector that is necessarily investing in new innovative changes and approaches to our health care system.
We have heard time and again from many witnesses and from people in the House over the course of the debate that drug companies often invest in me too drugs. They often invest in developing and finding new terminologies for disorders so they can take a drug on which the patent is about and give it a new name in response to a new disorder that they have defined themselves and get another patent extension.
Brand name companies use all kinds of games and manipulative practices to extend patent protection. Whatever the rules or laws of the land are, they will find a way around them. I do not believe we are getting a fair return on our investment. It ends up that taxpayer money and public revenues are subsidizing the extremely wealthy, profitable corporate entities that are monopolizing the field.
As I said earlier, we are subsidizing and giving welfare to these monolithic entities that are denying competition from the generic industry. That does not bode well for pharmacare and medicare. It does not bode well for Canadians who want access to drugs when they need them or to have hope of new research and the development of new products that will deal with changing circumstances and different issues.