Canada asks for access
This article was originally published in OTC Bulletin & The Rose Sheet
Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Health has called for the country’s Minister of Health to work more closely with her provincial and territorial counterparts to improve access to new non-prescription drugs.
In its national Pharmacare Now report, the committee recommends that the Minister enters into “discussions with provincial and territorial counterparts with the aim of reducing the delays in access to new non-prescription medicines by integrating the drug scheduling process into the federal non-prescription drug approval process”.
Welcoming the recommendation, Karen Proud, president of Consumer Health Products (CHP) Canada – the local industry association – said that “reducing delays in access to new medicines for us in self-care” could “improve overall access to affordable medicines and reduce healthcare costs”.
“It is refreshing to see the committee recognise this,” Proud added.
Canada “lagged behind” Australia, Europe and the US when it came to switching medicines to OTC status by “seven-to-10 years”, Proud pointed out, mainly because of overlapping federal and provincial regulations.
“The committee’s recommendation to address this problem is particularly timely in view of Health Canada’s Self-Care products Framework initiative,” she explained, “which seeks to overhaul the entire regulatory regime for these products”.
“We look forward to working with federal and provincial health officials to enhance Canadians’ access to safe and effective self-care options,” Proud stated.
Currently, while Health Canada is responsible for approving a prescription-to-OTC switch, the manufacturers of these products must then go through an additional approval process at the provincial level, which determines the conditions of sale of the product in pharmacies and/or other locations. This process can take up to two years.
If implemented, the reforms would bring all self-care products under a single set of rules and regulate them based on their risk to the consumer (OTC bulletin, 23 September 2016, page 11).
Currently, OTC medicines, natural health products and cosmetics – are regulated differently.