Uh Oh, Initiative or Inertia?
Hard to tell. Is it just too difficult to determine to govern responsibly? How is it to anyone's advantage other than the pharmaceutical companies to extend their market protection? Consumers already pay an enormous sum for needed drugs. Now that The New Government of Canada (talk about self-branding!) has decided, quietly, to unveil new regulations that will extend market protection for drugs produced by name-brand companies we'll see fewer generic drugs available for a longer period of time.
Pharmaceutical companies, already making profits hand-over-fist, and advertising shamelessly to entice greater numbers of consumers to buy their brand, have received a most kindly gift from The New Government of Canada. Where name-brand protection was formerly guaranteed for a five-year period, it has now been extended to eight years. This is a change that will affect fully 25% of manufactured drugs that are not protected by the usual 20-year patents for pharmaceuticals.
So generic pharmaceutical producers will now have to wait an additional three years before being able to reproduce that significant proportion of drugs formerly accessible after a five-year profit-bearing period for the original manufacturers. Some of the drugs which will be affected include Zoloft, Pravachol, Wellbutrin an Celexa; popularly-prescribed medications which garner hefty profits for the big-name pharmaceutical producers.
As though the health care system isn't sufficiently strained as it is, with the cost of drugs creating an ever-increasing dollar load to our public system of universal coverage.
Who exactly is supposed to benefit from this? We know that the pharmaceutical companies and their supporters always bring on that tired old mantra of needing healthy profits to enable further research and development. But there should be a reasonable limit to exclusivity in the market and the five years previously recognized should have been sufficient to ensure that such funds would be available for investment in R&D.
Is it just too much trouble to bring in regulations that will be useful to the provinces already groaning under a difficult burden, and the Canadian taxpayers who deserve better from their federal government?
Pharmaceutical companies, already making profits hand-over-fist, and advertising shamelessly to entice greater numbers of consumers to buy their brand, have received a most kindly gift from The New Government of Canada. Where name-brand protection was formerly guaranteed for a five-year period, it has now been extended to eight years. This is a change that will affect fully 25% of manufactured drugs that are not protected by the usual 20-year patents for pharmaceuticals.
So generic pharmaceutical producers will now have to wait an additional three years before being able to reproduce that significant proportion of drugs formerly accessible after a five-year profit-bearing period for the original manufacturers. Some of the drugs which will be affected include Zoloft, Pravachol, Wellbutrin an Celexa; popularly-prescribed medications which garner hefty profits for the big-name pharmaceutical producers.
As though the health care system isn't sufficiently strained as it is, with the cost of drugs creating an ever-increasing dollar load to our public system of universal coverage.
Who exactly is supposed to benefit from this? We know that the pharmaceutical companies and their supporters always bring on that tired old mantra of needing healthy profits to enable further research and development. But there should be a reasonable limit to exclusivity in the market and the five years previously recognized should have been sufficient to ensure that such funds would be available for investment in R&D.
Is it just too much trouble to bring in regulations that will be useful to the provinces already groaning under a difficult burden, and the Canadian taxpayers who deserve better from their federal government?
posted by Pieface | 6:30 PM
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