The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) has written to Ontario government representatives, namely at the Ministry of Health, Health Programs and Delivery Division, to comment on proposed changes to the Ontario Drug Benefit Act and the Drug Interchangeability and Dispensing Fee Act.
“The Ontario government, in introducing these changes, seeks to modernize submission requirements for well-established drugs,” they write, adding that the industry strongly supports the modernization of submissions requirements for manufacturers of established brands and generic drug products.
“The drugs affected by this executive officer notice are drug products containing substances that have been approved by Health Canada and sold in Canada for sufficient time and in sufficient quantity to establish their safety and effectiveness. The safety protections provided by a second layer of review provided solely by the province of Ontario, are not provided in any other jurisdiction and could be considered a barrier to entry for generics,” they write.
“Aligning Ontario’s submission requirements for brand and generic drugs with Health Canada’s requirements for approving well-established drugs for sale in Canada removes barriers and encourages manufactures of these drugs to seek funding under the ODB (Ontario Drug Benefit) program and/or request designation of these drugs as interchangeable.”
