The Cameron Institute

Putting children first: An opportunity for Canada’s new government

For more than 50 years, the importance of studying new medicines in childhood has been widely recognized. Nonetheless, Health Canada has eschewed policies requiring such evaluation, despite effective reforms elsewhere. In 2012, the Council of Canadian Academies convened an expert panel to assess Canada’s research base for labelling of pediatric therapies. The September 2014 report

Principles for a Catastrophic Drug Coverage Programme

Tax-funded, public drug reimbursement plans are focused primarily on cost-containment.  The Cameron Institute proposes that any catastrophic drug coverage plan not be centred on cost containment but rather the people-focused principles of comprehensiveness, universality, accessibility, efficiency, effectiveness and safety.

The national conversation about catastrophic drug coverage for Canada

A national catastrophic drug plan could shift the burden of expensive drug prescription costs from the individual to: the federal government, provincial/ territorial governments and/or private insurance providers. The Cameron Institute believes that it is time for the national government of Canada to help patients by supporting or backstopping health system payors, public and private,

A rationale for catastrophic drug coverage in Canada

The Cameron Institute believes that it is time for the national government of Canada to help patients by supporting or backstopping health system payors, public and private, to enable individuals to afford the high cost of drugs that are targeted to treat debilitating and often life-threatening conditions. Canada’s current publicly funded drug coverage framework –

An open letter about pharmacare

There has been much talk about national pharmacare these past few years, but there has also been a lot of misinformation spread about the cost of drugs within our crumbling healthcare system. Let’s set the record straight. Looking at the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s (CIHI’s) 2015 data: 1. Over the last 10 years, total

Bridges, doctors and you – leading healthcare in 2026 by getting out of the way

I am not an engineer. If you asked me to build a bridge I would have no idea where to start. Engineers build bridges. That is what they are educated and trained to do – and Canada’s engineers build the best bridges in the world. But as a manager I can tell the engineer where

Myths about the pharmaceutical system (often disguised as health policy)

By Dr. John Bachynsky Drug prices are excessive. (Patented Medicine Prices Review Board says NO) Drug prices are among the highest cost drivers in health care. Provincial drug programs cannot afford new drugs. Old drugs are as good as new drugs. You can’t trust big pharma. You can trust government. Drugs are not safe. A

#TreatRareDisease website launches

After much anticipation, the #TreatRareDisease website is live. Patients, and their family and friends, can use this website as a tool to call on the Ontario government to treat rare diseases in the province. We encourage you to use the site to: – Write your MPP – Tweet your MPP – Link to other groups, and

Preventing Alzheimer’s by 2020

Alzheimer’s disease affects 1 in 8 people over 65 years of age and older. It begins years before symptoms emerge and is recognized to kill almost as many as heart disease and cancer annually. We now understand that preventing Alzheimer’s disease and treating patients before symptoms start is the key to making Alzheimer’s a memory by 2020.

Drug bottleneck tied to ‘cold-hearted cost-containment’

By Marco Patrone A public policy think tank criticizes Ontario’s record of drug approvals, arguing that ‘we should be increasing the drug budget rather than decreasing it.’ The  growing backlog in the number of pharmaceuticals approved for funding in Ontario is a result of  “cold-hearted” government cost control, a think tank has charged. The Cameron