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The newest report from Canada’s brand name drug makers on access to new drugs has one key message: compared with other countries, Canada goes slow and low. New drugs are slower to be covered by our provincial drug plans and the numbers of people who get access to new drugs are lower than in other countries. The report is undeniably negative: Canadians are suffering because our governments don’t provide timely access to new medicines.

Produced by Rx&D (the association of Canada’s brand name drug manufacturers), the report ranks Canada 17th out of 18 industrialized nations in terms of new drug reimbursement — with only 23 per cent of new medicines covered across the country (it is closer to 90 per cent in the U.S.). As far as the time it takes between when a drug gets approved by Health Canada and when the provinces start paying for it, Canada ranks 16th of 18 countries.

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Canada’s drug makers believe that drug plans in Canada should be more generous and access should be simplified so when new and innovative medications come along — those to conquer cancer, heart disease or other life-threatening conditions — government health plans should quickly pay for them. After all, if they extend the length and quality of our lives, we citizens deserve them, right?