Health committee  I don't think it's regulated as such. Is it, Jeff?

Health committee  One of the interesting issues we've had with drug shortages is this question of.... I think one of the challenges we all have is that the drug regulatory process and the exchange of information that goes on between the drug regulator and the manufacturer, whether it's FDA or He

Health committee  I think you see provincial governments doing that to a certain extent. On provincial formularies there are a number of single-source generic drugs that get treated with what's called exemption status, or something like that. They're not necessarily subjected to the price regulati

Health committee  I'll start, and Jeff can perhaps add some stuff, because he met recently with the FDA. There are a couple of things. For a number of years, the FDA had a position very similar to Health Canada's. They were not, historically, necessarily that proactive with respect to drug shorta

Health committee  I don't think we've ever actually advocated for a mandatory system, but Jeff has been chairman of that working group, so I'm going to let him respond.

Health committee  I don't think.... I think there's perhaps been one media interview in which, as Jeff Morrison has explained, we talked about the importance of Health Canada's role. I think if you look at our press release and media statements in general, we've been pretty consistent in supportin

Health committee  If I can add to that, I think it's a great question but a difficult one to find a solution for, because you have to look at some sort of partnership between the federal government and provincial governments to do so. Provincial governments make some effort to protect themselves,

Health committee  I've got a Ph.D., so you can say Dr. Poston.

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the invitation to appear today. The Canadian Pharmacists Association is the national association that represents individual pharmacists. Our members work in community, hospital, industry, and academia. We are pleased that the committee

Health committee  The main benefit is improved safety. You get rid of the badly written prescription. That's one of the obvious advantages. It also enables information to be transferred between health care practitioners. My colleagues here have talked about the challenges with patients getting mov

Health committee  I think the issue was that they wanted to create a large national system, with a mega-investment of funds, and they seem to have run into a variety of technological and structural problems. There are numbers of reports. I'll find them and make them available to you. The interest

Health committee  I can start. I think we have a tremendous opportunity with the 2014 health accord or the renewal of health care transfers in 2014, however we want to describe that. I think there is a real opportunity for the federal government to provide leadership on a whole host of issues: ho

Health committee  Yes, in fact, for most provincial drug plans that cover the aging population across Canada, pharmacists are required to dispense a generic drug if it's available, even if it's prescribed as a brand name, unless the physician writes “no substitution” on it. We see the extensive us

Health committee  If I can address the Therapeutics Initiative, I think that for some of the work this initiative has traditionally done, the common drug review is sort of doing some of that work now. However, I think it is important that we look at aspects of the work of the Therapeutics Initiati

Health committee  National medication management centre.