Healthy Skepticism Library item: 133

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Publication type: news

Proposal will save health cash: MP
Windsor Star 2004 Nov 15

Full text:

NDP MP Brian Masse says a private member’s bill he will introduce today in the House of Commons would save Canadians a small fortune in health care expenses.

“We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that can be saved,” the Windsor West MP said.

Masse will give first reading to a proposal to amend regulations that enable pharmaceutical companies to apply for, and automatically receive, two-year extensions on existing 20-year periods of patent protection for brand-name drugs.

“Twenty years should be 20 years, nothing more and nothing less,” said Masse, adding his proposed legislation would allow pharmaceutical companies to seek extended patent protection, but only after they prove it’s justified.

In the case of the commonly used ulcer drug Losec, said Masse, Canadians and their health care system could have saved $443 million as of the beginning of this year had cheaper generic brands been allowed onto the market. Instead, he said, the drug’s manufacturer AstraZeneca has been given repeated extensions since its original 20-year patent protection period lapsed in 1999.

“Losec has been available generically in the United States and Europe for years,” said Masse.

While Canadian prescription drug prices remain competitive, Masse said those costs are increasing at a faster rate — 15 per cent per year — than any other part of the health care system.

He added that Canada leads the developed nations when it comes to the rate of drug cost increases.