report by Rx&D, the Canadian association of pharmaceutical companies, confirms an ongoing trend of under-reporting of pharmaceutical innovation investment by government bodies. The report, released in May, shows a consistent 34% under-reporting rate over the past three years. Pharmaceutical research investment in Canada is tracked by two government agencies, Statistics Canada and PRPMB (Patented Medicine Prices Review Board). The agencies work independently because they are gathering information for different mandates, and use separate methodology, but both produce similar data. However, Rx&D, which is also responsible for considerable self-regulation in the pharmaceutical industry, decided to track their own investments through studies.. READ MORE »
A recent study of 255 physicians in Canada, the United States and France highlights the important impact of pharmaceutical sales on doctors’ decisions and physicians’ reliance on sales representatives’ willingness to educate them on the full effects of the drugs they are selling. Researchers, who looked at doctors in Montreal, Vancouver, Sacramento and Toulouse, were interested in finding out how willing sales professionals were to discuss side effects of drugs. What they found was that on average, 66% of the Canadian physicians reported that they received no information about adverse side effects whatsoever. Globally, they found that only 6% of.. READ MORE »
Last week we covered a generic drug pricing deal that will affect most of Canada. This week we’re coming back to Ontario to take a closer look at the local impact of the laws on generics. While generic drugs are typically sold at lower prices than the brand name option, for pharmacies, stocking them is more than a matter of choice. In the past, the cost born by the retailer was boosted by two factors: a 13% higher provincial subsidy, greater than the one for branded drugs, and the ability to get a rebate from the manufacturing company of the.. READ MORE »
