Open Letter regarding Draft Guidelines Consultation at the Patent Medicine Price Review Board of Canada,

To Ms. Elana Lungu, 

Manager (Policy Development), Patent Medicine Price Review Board of Canada,

Thank you for your presentation on the draft guidelines for Patent Medicine Price Ceilings. On behalf of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, an organization representing 60, 000 public servants as well as thousands of its retired members, we wanted to submit our comments on the draft guidelines.

PIPSC believes that Canada’s drug pricing model must be based on efficiency, accessibility and health-outcomes. The proposed changes are far overdue. We are pleased to see the adoption of revised guidelines that will, we hope, correct a long-standing failure of public policy and normalize drug prices in Canada. We urge the PMPRB to continue full steam ahead to put these reforms in place as soon as possible.

We recognize the importance of an evidence-based approach to drug price regulation. In your presentations, we appreciate that you have dispelled the pervasive myth that fair drug pricing limits innovation, delays or prevents drug launches, and discourages research and development. It is important that Canadians know that these concepts are not linked. Fair pricing does not mean less access - if anything, it means more access.

We believe establishing price ceilings by way of reasonable international comparison, market analysis and pharmacoeconomics (the cost of a drug vis-a-vis its effectiveness) strikes a balance between rewarding drug innovation and affordability. These changes mark an important step toward the much needed universal public pharmacare plan.

We look forward to working with the PMPRB as it continues to advance toward a more efficient, accessible and fair model of determining drug prices. 

 

Thank you,

Debi Daviau
President


21 July 2017
Recently, I sent an opinion piece to the Globe and Mail about our members’ ongoing problems with the Phoenix pay system and what I consider to be one of the root causes of the debacle: outsourcing.

12 June 2017
The recent recommendations of yet another consultants’ report on Shared Services Canada (SSC) demonstrate that, when it comes to federal government outsourcing, there’s no shortage of private sector advice.

6 June 2017
Next week, June 11-17, is National Public Service Week (NPSW). Since 1992 it’s been an occasion to recognize and celebrate the contributions Canada’s public service professionals make to society. The Professional Institute supports this celebration of our members’ accomplishments. In fact, we first proposed it.

2 June 2017
“Today’s update by Deputy Minister Lemay indicates that the government has again failed to plan ahead -- this time for entirely predictable increases in the numbers of employee payroll adjustments needed to implement new collective agreements,” said PIPSC Vice President Steve Hindle.

26 May 2017
The announcement this week that the federal government will temporarily hire an additional 200 staff, invest a further $142 million over three years, and introduce even more measures to expedite fixing Phoenix is welcome, if long overdue, news.