“The changes recently made by the federal government to the patented medicines regulations will slow and limit Canadians’ access to new breakthrough medicines,” a spokeswoman for Merck said by e-mail on Friday.
The constitutional challenge comes less than two months before a federal election in which drug prices and drug spending could be key issues.Canada has either the third-highest or fourth-highest drug prices in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development , depending on how average prices are measured.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the government needed to focus on cutting drug prices before it could move forward with national pharmacare. She called the new regulations a step in that direction.The regulator used to determine those ceilings by measuring the Canadian “list” or sticker prices of drugs against prices in seven other well-off countries, including the United States, which has the highest drug prices in the world.
The changes, to take effect on July 1, 2020, have been lauded by drug-policy experts and some patient groups that are worried about high drug prices.
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