Pangaea Express: Delay until July 1, 2022 for Patented Medicines Regulations
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On December 23, 2021, the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos announced a delay in the coming-into-force of the Regulations Amending the Patented Medicines Regulations by six months. These regulations will now come into force on July 1, 2022. The delay, once again, was to allow all impacted stakeholders from industry to government to the supply chain to continue to focus their efforts on the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government did note in this announcement that “the delay also allows the Government to further engage stakeholders on the application of these amendments within the changing pharmaceutical landscape”. The government reiterated their commitment to improving access and affordability through public drug coverage, as per the PEI initiative and the national strategy for drugs for rare diseases that is in development.
We will await the early months of 2022 to understand how the Government will “further engage” with stakeholders. Hopefully, there will be some positive and constructive conversation with Industry.
It is interesting that the Feds announcement regarding the delay of the amended Patented Medicines Regulations references their work towards national universal pharmacare, a topic that is creating more buzz again with the development of a framework for a pan-Canadian prescription drug formulary led by CADTH.
For more information, please contact Suzanne Solman or Marla Weingarten.