Health committee  This summer we went across Canada and met with all the large private payers, large insurance companies. One of the interesting things right now is that all the payers, whether public or private, are very anxious to see biosimilars in the marketplace. They're looking for them. The

Health committee  The success rate for generic drugs is identical to the success rate for the originator products. These products are approved by Health Canada as being equivalent. When we do our testing, we have to demonstrate on patients that the product is absorbed at the same rate, at the sa

Health committee  I will do that, yes. Thank you to the members of the committee for the opportunity to participate in the hearings today on the development of a national pharmacare program. As was said, I am Jim Keon. I'm the president of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association. CGP

Health committee  Okay. I have a 10-minute presentation, but I'll cut it back.

International Trade committee  No, we have strong intellectual property protection. I think in trade agreements, as I said earlier, we would like to see more focus on regulatory convergence. That would reduce costs, improve quality and, I think, make medicines much more available in Canada and in developing co

International Trade committee  One of the things about the balance between the pharmaceutical patent protection and generic entry is not just the term of patent protection; it's also the complexity. We have a complex litigation system in Canada. Mr. Elliott mentioned it earlier about patent linkage. We're bloc

International Trade committee  Just briefly, one of the problems that joining late made perhaps, is that the focus on pharmaceuticals is all about intellectual property: let's increase intellectual property around the world. For a generic pharmaceutical industry in Canada and globally, that has a lot of proble

International Trade committee  No, the generic pharmaceutical companies are not subject directly to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board. However, we have negotiated over the last number of years with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, which is now a very forceful organization representing all the

International Trade committee  Develop our own products....

International Trade committee  That is correct, after patents expire or are found to be invalid, yes.

International Trade committee  Our member companies are in litigation all the time over patent issues.

International Trade committee  Typically, what happens is generic products are coming on the market 10, 15, or more years after a new medication. Typically, if there have been problems with the medication, that generally has been brought out. I'm not aware of any case where someone has been sued for getting a

International Trade committee  The generics develop competing products that Health Canada declares to be bioequivalent, so they are actually equivalent to the brand-name product. The value we bring is what we call headroom. You can now buy and pay for medications at a much lower cost and spend the money elsewh

International Trade committee  Do you mean consumer concerns?

International Trade committee  I meant the cost to payers, for example, provincial governments. For example, the cost of Lipitor, a brand-name product, is about $2.20 a tablet. When the generic comes on, it's down to around 38¢. You can now pay for about five prescriptions for the price of one, so the costs ha