Health committee  We had patients and parents of patients come in to testify, and we heard a lot of testimony on the frustration of getting access to drugs and reimbursements, together with worries about provincial governments changing the rules halfway through. Is there anything we can do, from a

Health committee  Thank you very much. We've had a lot of testimony on rare diseases. I'd like to know what jurisdiction, if any, gets it right, and if there any best practices that Canada can follow and learn from when it comes to developing a policy on combatting rare diseases in this country.

Health committee  In terms of the patent process, do you think there are areas we can improve on in this country that would make it more beneficial for pharmaceutical companies to develop their drugs in Canada?

Health committee  That's a fair recommendation. My last question is for both Ms. Vowles and Ms. Little. What's the one recommendation you would like to see the government follow to make your lives easier?

Health committee  Either or both, to be honest.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, witnesses, for sharing your stories. As my colleagues have already said, I think everybody around the table can agree, across party lines, that when we hear more of the patient experience, it definitely gives us an opportunity to try to go back

Health committee  There are 75 to 100. What about in the U.S.?

Health committee  We're looking at a very small number for any pharmaceutical to be developing a drug, because it's not going to be profitable, no matter how many patients there are, when you're playing with such a small pool. The provincial government is subsidizing the full cost of the medicati

Health committee  Is that not the case across the country, though?

Health committee  Okay, do most of the 75 patients live in Ontario?

Health committee  I don't like making assumptions, but I want to ask you this. Are you in contact with families that are going through the same thing in the U.S.? Do you have any comments on their experiences? Are some of the states doing a better job at this than we are?

Health committee  Thank you. Doug.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses for coming here today. I'll be splitting my time with the honourable member to my left. Dr. MacKenzie, you put the number at around one million, and everybody else, including the documents I have, puts it at about 2.8 million Can

Health committee  I think if you want something that everybody on the panel can agree with, identifying the number of Canadians suffering from rare diseases is probably the number one priority in order to address the problem.

Health committee  Thank you. Ms. Silverberg, thank you for your testimony. You work for Johnson & Johnson, which is a large pharmaceutical. You mentioned that in Canada we value health and we want to ensure a healthy population. I think the job of any government is to ensure the success of