TORONTO: The Canadian government on Friday announced final regulations to reduce patented drug prices it said would save Canadians CUS$13.2 billion over a decade, overriding heavy opposition from pharmaceutical companies.
"We are taking the biggest step in a generation to lower the price of drugs in Canada by moving forward with these regulations," Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor said in an interview. Initially expected to go into effect in January, the regulations were delayed so the government could review feedback. They will now go into force on July 1, 2020.
In the past, drug companies have gone as far as the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge PMPRB guidelines. With new regulations come new guidelines, and the potential for fresh court challenges. "Now the tricky part: implementation, with all the specifics concerning how rules will apply; and, no doubt, legal challenges from industry," he wrote in a tweet.Global drugmakers, including Johnson & Johnson , Merck & Co and Amgen Inc , argued against the draft plan.
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