Health committee  I have a bit of information about that. What I understand from that situation is that this drug was for export only when they discovered a problem with it. It wasn't a drug that was used within Canada. So that company is making products that go outside Canada, when maybe a priority should be on getting drugs for Canadians, if they're manufactured in Canada.

Health committee  I think it's really important—again going back to the leadership—in that we really need to have some central kind of place where those reporting can be. We also absolutely need a safe supply of medications and whatever it takes to get there. Even when I say leadership, I don't necessarily mean that it's regulatory, other than taking these meetings and going forward.

Health committee  You mean for not having consistent supply?

Health committee  I think it would be an important factor to put in. If I were in those shoes, I probably would try to build in a lot of those kinds of things, except I imagine if I were in that role there would be a lot of pressure back for concessions in other areas. What we saw, again, in my experience in B.C. was that there was a lot of pressure on the government there in the B.C. pharmacare plan to prioritize that medication among the patients in that area, and that was not a good health decision.

Health committee  Be there. The patients need to be there. Feedback about that particular disease would have been so helpful had the decision-makers known how different these medications were. The study is available, should the committee want it. It's in the PPI class, which is for proton pump inhibitors for gastroesophageal reflux disease, which is a seemingly easy disease to manage, and yet 25% of the people failed when they had to go onto the designated products.

Health committee  We're trying. We're doing our part. Thank you.

Health committee  Absolutely not; I would not do it. I'm co-author of a study looking at patients who switched from one brand name to another—so I'm not even talking about generic drugs. It was predicted by B.C., where I'm from, that it would save $42 million in health care costs, and it actually cost $43 million.

Health committee  Quickly, while the provincial and territorial bodies have a role in reimbursement, it's actually Health Canada that has the role in notice of compliance for medications. There's certainly an area on which to piggyback safety and supply.

Health committee  Thanks for that. In summarizing, what we're saying here are three clear things. First, patients need to be involved all along the way. Second, we're looking for the government to take leadership in an investigation as to what happened. Third, we want to know how we can come up with some really workable solutions, and we'd love to be a part of that.

Health committee  First of all, Madam Chair, thank you very much for the invitation to come here and discuss some of the issues. Our coalition is an alliance of 27 health charities and individuals who are advocating for better health care around access to medications, including the drug shortages and safety and supply.