Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members, for the opportunity to meet with you today. I'd like to start by acknowledging the efforts of the entire federal government to fight the spread of COVID-19 and to protect our economy. As a Canadian, I'm proud of how our government has

Health committee  Thank you, Dr. Neame. I would like to shift to a topic that I know is on the minds of many, and that's the potential for drug shortages as a result of COVID-19. IMC's membership consists of the pharmaceutical companies that discover, develop and deliver innovative new medicin

Health committee  I don't have data to speak specifically to that demarcation. I can certainly say that in the pharmaceutical world and in life sciences, we have been struggling to attract global investment to Canada over the last couple of years, and that continues, but that is related to the u

Health committee  No, in our opinion, it hasn't. Our concerns remain the same. Our biggest driver in this industry is making sure that Canadians, patients, have access to the medicines they need. It sounds like a cliché, but there is no business without that outcome. What we are seeing is, again,

Health committee  It's all about the patients. As you say, there is no industry without patients, and there is no industry without good outcomes for these patients. That is the driver, yes.

Health committee  I remain an eternal optimist. I would like to think that this slight delay will give us the opportunity to open that door. The industry has, for the last two years, been very open to working with government to find the best policy solutions possible. We have brought ideas and e

Health committee  If I may add one quick comment. It's almost a good news story that I can't give you a list of every company and how many dollars they received and how they benefited, because what it means—to Dr. Neame's point—is that everyone is working in collaboration. I can point to a compan

Health committee  Let me say first of all that Canada is seen as a very attractive country, so companies want to invest here. We have a good health care system. We have excellent researchers. We have good institutions. We have diverse populations with clinical trials. We are an attractive place.

Health committee  I would emphasize the policy-making decisions that are going to be required by every government to determine who gets these vaccines first. There's a lot of coverage in the media these days about that very question. First of all, once we get the vaccine—and I say “once”, because

Health committee  I think my colleagues, Drs. Halperin and Neame, might be the best to respond to that. As I say, there's quite a bit of coverage in the press right now in terms of making that decision. Do you provide it to the most vulnerable, the elderly, the marginalized populations, or do we

Health committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to respond to that. I also have something to add to your previous question to Mr. Keon, if there is time. We looked at Health Canada data—it isn't our data but Health Canada's data—and compared the data from Q4 2019. The regulations were p

Health committee  I hate to sound like a broken record on this particular question, but probably the most important piece that we could do in Canada would be to get that balanced, whole-of-government approach to the two issues of cost containment and the investment attraction programs that are in

Health committee  No, consistent with Dr. Neame, we've been monitoring very vigilantly throughout this time. We check with our members regularly. We do everything we can to make sure that drugs are in full supply. Our members have told us there have not been problems. This is on the patented drug

Health committee  I will start by acknowledging, as several have, Mr. Keon in particular, that the drug industry is global. Whether we're referring to generic or patented drugs, it is a global industry with inputs from around the world. There are multiple ways in which the supply, the supply chain

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable members, for this opportunity to address this motion to study Canada's trade and investment policies and the impact they are currently having on the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines within our borders. These efforts, I'd like