Health committee  The working group has been putting forward some recommendations, but again, those are still being discussed through some of the ministers, so they won't be presented to this committee.

Health committee  There have been some discussions and recommendations under way, but again, those are still under discussion and we're waiting for direction from ministers on the next steps. So those are still in the formative stage.

Health committee  With respect to counterfeit drugs, they are not really provincial jurisdiction, but I know that the colleges will often have processes and policies in place so that if something is reported to them, they may elevate it through, I suspect, to Health Canada.

Health committee  I think one of the key things that our experts are requesting in terms of information is the timeliness of the information. For example, if a safety event has been reported, whether it's in the press or in another jurisdiction, we often hear very quickly from Health Canada that t

Health committee  Right now we rely on Health Canada, but through some of our listing agreements for some of the products that are on the formulary, if we have concerns around how a product is being used, we may ask the manufacturer directly to conduct some additional observational studies and col

Health committee  With respect to the national pharmaceutical strategy, there are some discussions and some recommendations that are still being considered by ministers, so we are still seeking some direction from them with respect to the next steps. But in the interim, there has been a fair bit o

Health committee  That hasn't been the mandate of this working group. A lot of the working group itself is focusing more on the fact that there is a lot of research happening out there in the field when you're looking at post-marketing surveillance or post-market studies, so how do you collaborate

Health committee  Right. So each province has an intergovernmental affairs section within their ministry. The linkages between the federal government and Ontario would be through the Ministry of Health for Ontario, of which I can speak specifically, and then they will seek out who the correct peop

Health committee  We have done it as a group. The directors of the public drug programs typically sit down with Health Canada to understand what the framework is about. We had a meeting within the past six months to understand what the potential approach was going to be.

Health committee  We have been asked about progressive licensing as a concept, but since the bill was introduced we haven't been asked to comment specifically on the contents of the bill.

Health committee  It was difficult because they were still preparing their regulations, so we couldn't comment. Now that the bill has been introduced, I haven't heard of plans for the directors to provide input as a collective group, but one-way dialogues are happening between the individual juris

Health committee  I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Health for the opportunity to discuss post-market surveillance in the pharmaceutical sector. I am the director, Ontario public drug programs, with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and I assist in managing the Ontario dru