Finance committee  Sure. One of the most common ones that almost everybody would know about happens to be a natural health product. It's nicotine replacement therapy—nicotine patches and gums. It took years for the government to gather enough information about the safety, quality, and efficacy to m

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for allowing me the opportunity to speak today about Bill C-38, the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, on behalf of the consumer health products industry. Consumer Health Products Canada is a national industry associatio

Health committee  Actually, probably one of the most pertinent things we deal with all the time is trying to find the balance between regulating on something and educating on something. There are two aspects to health and wellness and promotion. One is how to eliminate risks or how to reduce risks

Health committee  I have a PowerPoint.

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for allowing us the opportunity to be here today to participate in this study of health promotion and disease prevention. Consumer Health Products Canada is a century-old trade association, representing the makers of products

International Trade committee  I can maybe provide a very quick answer from our perspective. We're not advocating the patent extension period. What we're talking about is a separate issue; that is, data protection for new uses. I don't really have anything I can provide you on the costs that might accrue to p

International Trade committee  Yes. I have several examples of ones that eventually occurred but that took many years. Famotidine is an example of where you would have had to research a different use for an already established prescription product. Famotidine has long been used, and has a good safety recor

International Trade committee  Just to make a finer point, one of the things that often gets confusing, and for me as well, is that the patent extension period isn't really what we're talking about. I can speak to the principle of innovation around having a year to recoup your research costs for innovation in

International Trade committee  Article 74a is what's in the European Union's legislation about a data protection period. It's a straight reference that can be pulled from the EU legislation.

International Trade committee  No.

International Trade committee  They would take the position that data protection—there is a section within the food and drug regulations called Division 8. It is the area where new uses for already new chemical entities can get some additional data protection, but it doesn't apply to anything that is more esta

International Trade committee  I'll make it a quick answer. What we're seeking is to have the data provisions that are in the switch legislation for the European Union included in the trade agreement so that we can parlay those into a Canadian benefit. The reason for this is that Health Canada has said we wi

International Trade committee  Sure. In the United Kingdom, when the data protection period came into play through the European Union, and even slightly before that in terms of the U.K. government's recognition that in order to have sustainable health care, people needed to be more involved in their own health

International Trade committee  It's mostly because of two things. One is that companies will invest in markets where they can recoup their investment. That's the crass commercial side of it. So there's nothing in it for the company to introduce it in Canada until such time as they have basically recouped the

International Trade committee  Yes. It's not a simple matter of just exporting it. You would have to register it for sale in Canada, so you would have to go through the same process. We were talking about red tape reduction. For example, there's a process that one goes through to be able to decide on simvasta