National pharmacare won't solve lack of access
Peter Brenders argues that nationalizing drug coverage is a distraction from real impediments to access (430 words, 2 minutes)
“Pharmacare is not the issue,” said Peter Brenders, General Manager of BeiGene Canada, “but it keeps coming up [as a federal talking point]. It’s interesting how we assume it’s needed.”
Speaking at the 15th Annual National Pharmaceutical Congress, Brenders (photo below) said we need to start asking better questions about the “ever-simmering national pharmacare file,” starting with “What is pharmacare?”
Simply put, national pharmacare is an insurance plan that covers your drugs.
“To the average consumer out there,” he said, “pharmacare already exists. But maybe not for everyone.” He explained that while every province has a ‘pharmacare’ program, at the crux of ongoing discussions are the drugs and patients not covered—which remain the issue under any model.
“How provinces set who and what is covered seems to be the issue. And if there are gaps,” he said, “it’s a provincial decision. So why are the Feds involved?”
Brenders cast doubt on whether the federal government would be equipped to manage better and implement healthcare than provinces currently do. He pointed to Canada’s disastrously slow Covid-19 vaccine rollout as a “recent example of federal prowess in the management of a national health program and its ability to work with provinces.”
“If provinces really want to provide comprehensive healthcare coverage,” Brenders said, “they don’t need a national program.” He argued that a centralized program wouldn’t improve the availability of new medicines in Canada and suggested that pharmacare would be unlikely to expand patient access in any meaningful way.
He suggests that federal-level discussions on pharmacare distract from the real barriers to access for Canadian patients, such as drug pricing reform.
“When this comes back—and it will come back—and politicians want to raise the primacy of a national pharmacare program,” Brenders said, there’s an “easy test” of their conviction that a national drug plan is genuinely for the better. “If a national pharmacare program is put in place, will it become de facto the sole drug benefit plan for elected members and their staff? For all public servants?”
Further reading: Pharmacare has taken the form of additional funding for individual provinces. The “first step” towards national pharmacare was an agreement with PEI to provide $35 million over four years to expand its drug plan. Read more.
THIS WEEK 12/07/21
Jazz Pharmaceuticals and its partner PharmaMar announced that Zepzelca (lurbinectedin) is now commercially available in Canada. The product received conditional approval from Health Canada in September 2021. Zepzelca is approved to treat adult patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC).
The Federal Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Filomena Tassi, announced that the Government of Canada has signed agreements with Merck and Pfizer for access to their Covid-19 oral antiviral medications. The agreements will provide Canada with 500,000 courses of Merck’s oral antiviral treatment molnupiravir, and with one million courses of Pfizer’s own Covid-19 antiviral treatment. Both are still pending Health Canada authorization.
Galderma announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Alastin Skincare Inc., a specialty aesthetics company specializing in developing physician-dispensed skincare solutions. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Bausch Health announced that Jublia (efinaconazole) Topical Solution, a treatment for onychomycosis, has received the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) Seal of Approval. The APMA Seal of Approval is awarded to products that promote good foot health and are of significant value when used as part of daily foot care. Products must pass a rigorous scientific review by an APMA committee of podiatrists to receive APMA Seal of Approval.
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee’s view, they stand for a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. Each week, NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree.
2014 Inductee
Mark Beaudet
Montreal
Editor’s Note: Beaudet has been Chairman at Ilkos Therapeutic since September 2016.
In the pharmaceutical industry, having trusted, capable people at your back allows you to chase new opportunities and weather the worst crises. For Mark Beaudet, president of the specialty pharmaceutical company Paladin Labs Inc., this truth has had a striking impact on his career.
After studying marketing and entrepreneurship at McGill, Beaudet took a position at Procter and Gamble in OTC healthcare marketing, with Pepto-Bismol as his first brand. In the adjacent cubicle at P&G, working the Vick’s VapoRub account, was a man who would become Beaudet’s good friend and business partner, Jonathan Goodman.
After continuing with P&G for several years, becoming a manager and working with several other OTC healthcare products, Beaudet moved to restaurant marketing for a short period. Not long after that, though, Goodman—who had left P&G before Beaudet— approached him and convinced him to return to Montreal to help launch a new specialty pharmaceutical company called Paladin Labs. “For me, the entrepreneurial aspect was very exciting,” says Beaudet. “Starting something from scratch. Also, the multi-disciplinary aspect of being an entrepreneur was much more attractive than just working on one dimension of a business.”
Going into business with a good friend like Goodman was fun, says Beaudet, despite the challenges of starting a business. Challenges like offices located over the top of a warehouse, where the heating would fail, and mice were known to take up residence.
Since the company’s launch in 1996, Paladin has had increasing sales revenues in every year of its operation, averaging 25 per cent annual growth. “I think that if profitability is a measure of collections of decisions you have made and the wisdom of those decisions, we are very proud to run a profitable business,” says Beaudet.
One particular triumph was launching the emergency contraception drug Plan B in Canada, says Beaudet. He says other companies had tried and failed to launch similar versions of the drug. Still, many dogged coalition-building from the excellent team at Paladin with womens’, pharmacists’, and physicians’ groups made the product successful.
The Paladin team has also been working hard in the last few years to grow the company internationally, deliberately avoiding the well-served U.S. market to reach out to overseas markets with specialty-pharma needs similar to Canada’s, Beaudet says.
Beaudet and Paladin were shaken in August 2011, however, when Goodman was badly injured in a bicycle accident, just as Paladin was in the middle of closing bids on two companies. Shaken by his friend’s hardship, Beaudet and Paladin nevertheless powered through. Beaudet took on the burden of becoming the interim CEO, and the rest of the Paladin staff ensured that everything continued to run seamlessly. “I’m so proud of how our whole team performed and came through,” says Beaudet.
NEXT WEEK
In the 12/13 edition of the NPC Healthbiz Weekly, more from the powerhouse panels of the 15th Annual National Pharmaceutical Congress. It’s easy to get your no-charge subscription and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Stay safe, stay sure, and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next week.