With regard to preparation and response to COVID-19: (a) what are the reasons for the decision of the National Research Council (NRC) to grant a non-exclusive licence to the biotechnology company CanSino to utilize a modified cell line invented by the NRC; (b) under the licence referred to in (a), what compensation, consideration, or other reciprocal arrangements did the NRC receive or agree to from CanSino; (c) under the licence referred to in (a), did the NRC obtain from CanSino or others an agreement that the Government of Canada could receive or make use of any resulting COVID-19 vaccine, and, if so, what are the details of those agreements, including the cost and other compensation or consideration; (d) if the answer to (c) is negative, what are the reasons for the lack of such an agreement; (e) if there are costs to the NRC, or any other Government of Canada entity, payable to CanSino or any other entity, resulting from the provision or licence of a COVID-19 vaccine to the Government of Canada further to the licence referred to in (a), what are the details of those costs, and what are the reasons for agreeing to those costs; (f) under the licence referred to in (a), did the NRC obtain from CanSino or others an agreement that CanSino would furnish any resulting COVID-19 vaccine to developing countries on a not-for-profit basis, and, if not, what are the reasons; (g) what is the total amount of direct or indirect funding that has been provided by the Government of Canada to Gilead Sciences, Inc. for the research, development, manufacture, or clinical trials of remdesivir; (h) what is the total value of any funding, tax incentives or credits, or other arrangements made with Gilead Sciences, Inc. with regard to its Canadian manufacturing or research and development facilities, including to retrofit or build new Gilead facilities to scale-up production capacity, including the (i) amounts, (ii) dates, (iii) specific uses of those funds; (i) what are the details of each grant from the Government of Canada, or a related agency, made to any academic institution to conduct research on remdesivir, including the (i) value, (ii) recipients, (iii) dates, (iv) terms of each grant; (j) was any research and development on remdesivir conducted directly by the Government of Canada or any public servants or federal agencies, and, if so, (i) what is the budget of each research project, (ii) who conducted it, (iii) on what date; (k) does the Government of Canada own any patents on remdesivir or has the government licensed any patents on remdesivir and, if so, which patents and patent applications, including their numbers, and what are the details of any licensing agreements, including (i) to whom or from whom the licences were issued, (ii) on what dates, (iii) the terms of the licences; (l) has the Government of Canada secured or negotiated access to remdesivir, should it receive regulatory approval from Health Canada, and, if so, what price has been negotiated per treatment; (m) further to the Prime Minister’s announcement on April 7, 2020, that Canada would purchase up to 30,000 ventilators, how many ventilators has the Government of Canada ordered, on what date, from which supplier, at what price per ventilator, which models and manufacturers, and how many have been received by the federal government and each province; (n) for each type of ventilator ordered by the federal government, are they capable of providing mechanical ventilation as described by the ARDSnet protocol by, for example, controlling and limiting respiratory rate, tidal volume, peak pressures, positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP), and fraction of inhaled oxygen (FiO2); (o) which sources or officials, broken down by name or, if names will not be disclosed, by job title or position, provided technical advice related to the selection of ventilator models, modes, and capabilities in the context of COVID-19; (p) since 2016, what funds, broken down by year, were allocated to the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS) of personal protective equipment, how much of those funds allocated were not spent, if any, and, if applicable, for what reasons were those funds not spent; (q) as of January 1, 2020, February 1, 2020, March 1, 2020, and March 15, 2020, what quantities of personal protective equipment were in the NESS inventory, broken down by (i) masks, (ii) N95 respirators, (iii) gloves, (iv) other personal protective equipment; and (r) who at the Public Health Agency of Canada is presently responsible for stock rotation of the NESS inventory, and on what date was that individual tasked with that function?
In the House of Commons on August 12th, 2020. See this statement in context.