Ottawa, March 10, 2020 – In response to the budget tabled by Quebec’s Finance Minister Éric Girard, Innovative Medicines Canada welcomes investments that send an encouraging signal to the life sciences industry.
“As a driver of health innovation, the innovative pharmaceutical industry offers its full collaboration to improve access to drugs and vaccines in Quebec,” said Pamela Fralick, president of Innovative Medicines Canada. “We reiterate our intention to continue working closely with the government to achieve the objectives of the Life Sciences Strategy and respect CAQ’s electoral commitment to reduce delays in accessing medicines.”
Innovative Medicines Canada highlights the following measures:
- Additional budgets to accelerate the integration of innovations within the health network and to offer innovative treatments, including CART-T-cell therapy.
- Investments to support CATALIS, Genome Québec and the Montreal Clinical Research Institute.
- Measures to increase the development, promotion and commercialization of innovations and to facilitate the recruitment of foreign researchers and experts.
- Measures to increase the vaccination rate in people with chronic diseases.
- Improvements to the data access process for research and optimization of the IT infrastructure.
Ms. Fralick also recalls the urgency to act to improve care for patients with rare diseases and recommends a national strategy in this area. Innovative Medicines Canada offers its cooperation to discuss solutions so that all patients have access to treatments they need.
In closing, Ms. Fralick recommends that the Quebec Government intervene again with the federal government to request the suspension of the implementation of the regulatory changes to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) until a more thoughtful balance can be struck between cost containment and access to innovative medicines. This reform is a threat to the achievement of Quebec’s objectives on access to medicines and attracting investments, and encroaches on responsibilities already assumed by the province.
About Innovative Medicines Canada
Innovative Medicines Canada is the national voice of Canada’s innovative pharmaceutical industry. We advocate for policies that enable the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative medicines and vaccines that improve the lives of all Canadians. We support our members’ commitment to being valued partners in the Canadian healthcare system.
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For further information:
Sarah Dion-Marquis
Director, Media and Public Relations
Telephone: 613-769-6510
E-mail: sdmarquis@imc-mnc.ca
