'An entire semester in 1 week': P.E.I. woman takes part in pharmacare panel

A Murray River, P.E.I., woman who was one of 35 Canadians randomly selected to take part in a panel on pharmacaresaid the process left her optimistic the panel'srecommendations will be followed, including one calling for a national drug-care program.

Virginia Winterwas part of the Citizens' Reference Panel on Pharmacare in Canada, which heard from experts during a multi-day meeting in Ottawa inOctober.

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The recommendations were presented to the House of Commonsstanding committee on health earlier this month.

"I'm very optimistic about it because at least the dialogue's there," Wintertold CBC News. "[Health Minister Jane] Philpott is invited and enlisted all of this, so that when they review the health-care act and the reform in 2017 this can be considered. So I think it's close to a reality if we don't get a lot of fear and pushback."

Necessary Medicines

Wintersays the most important recommendation to her was that the program would be the same across Canada, so that someone travelling within the country would be able to access their prescription drugs wherever they are.

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Panelistswere randomly selected from a group of representative people who had volunteered to take part in the process to advise policy-makers on drug coverage for Canadians.

"I love being part of anything that allows me to exercise my civic duty," Winter said. "When it's something that is close to home, such as healthcare ... it just makes it all the more exciting to be a participant in such a process."

The report, entitled Necessary Medicines, included the following recommendations:

• Creating a new national formulary of universally publicly-covered medicines that accommodates the full range of individual patient needs, including rare diseases.
• Requiring all covered drugs to undergo a rigorous evaluation process to ensure both the efficacy and value-formoney of funded treatments.
• Endorsing an ongoing role for private insurers in providing supplemental coverage.

1 in 10 can't fill prescriptions

Canada is the only developed country with universal health coverage that does not also offer universal prescription drug benefits.

An estimated one in 10 Canadians can't fill prescriptions because of the expense.

Canadians now spend almost $30 billion a year on prescription medicines.

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The panel's research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. A committee of clinicians, senior public servants and health researchers from across Canada oversaw the process.

Other speakers included doctors, nurses, pharmacists, brand name and generic manufacturers, insurers, retailers, patients, public agencies, academics and former policy-makers.

'There was just so much to learn'

The panelalso heard from multiple countries.

"It was like taking an entire semester in one week," Winter said. "There was just so much to learn and it was so exciting and I think anytime the brain can saturate with learning it's a good day."

Winter said the biggest surprise for her was "the lack of accountability" from pharmaceutical companies.

"Even the World Health Organization has not been successful in getting them to divulge what it actually costs to get a drug through trial, through failure, to market and all of that," she said. "They just set their own pricing."

A national drug plan is not officially on the federal government's agenda of priorities.

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