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Brand Names Fight Back
5th October 2010
Brand name Canadian drugs are fighting back against what they call a misguided war on their products, describing as a myth the perception that they are too expensive.
A new study compiled by the Fraser Institute says that, contrary to public perception, the cost of patented prescription Canadian drugs accounted for just five and a half percent of all government health spending last year, which is in fact a reduction from three years earlier, when it was still only just over six percent.
This study offers important information for policy makers because it shows that the value of new medicines and vaccines far outweighs their cost to the health care system, reckons the President of Canadas Research Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D), Russell Williams. Rather than short term cost containment, we could be looking at ways to work together to improve patient health and well being and ensure the sustainability of our health care system.
The study also claims that the cost of Canada drugs has actually decreased in real terms when adjusted to the cost of inflation over the course of the last two decades and that many of these are new Canada drugs for patients who previously had no treatment options for their illnesses at all.
The study demonstrates that Canadians receive excellent value from innovative pharmaceuticals, Williams insists. Improving access to the latest medicines would positively contribute to ensuring a sustainable health care system
Appropriately prescribed new medicines are part of the solution to the challenge of sustaining Canadas health care system.
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