Canada: All-Party Support Sought for Life-Saving Cheap Drug Initiatives

Two bills that would ease poor countries' access to medicine for AIDS, malaria and other deadly diseases are now working their way through Canada's Parliament. On Friday, Sen. Sharon Carstairs (Liberal) and Member of Parliament Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP) held a joint news conference in Winnipeg, saying all-party support to reform Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) is a non-partisan "humanitarian issue."

Carstairs and Wasylycia-Leis are sponsoring reform bills in their respective chambers. Carstairs' S-232 measure will go to Senate committee this week. Wasylycia-Leis' bill, C-393, will receive a House hearing in the next couple of months.

Since being created with all-party support in 2004, CAMR has only been utilized once. In that case, a Canadian generic-drug manufacturer supplied Rwanda with inexpensive AIDS drugs. Last month, Apotex Inc. shipped enough AIDS drugs to treat 21,000 Rwandan patients. However, Apotex said it would no longer participate unless CAMR were streamlined.

Both lawmakers' bills would eliminate CAMR's requirement of separate negotiations with patent-holding drug firms for each purchasing country and with each order. The fight for a "one-license solution" is "an uphill battle," said Wasylycia-Leis.

The ruling Conservatives have not shown interest in streamlining CAMR, but Wasylycia-Leis said she is optimistic that public pressure will mount as the bills move through Parliament.

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