Access to cancer drugs in Quebec

Montreal, June 3, 2015 – In response to yesterday’s publication of the new reimbursable drugs list, the Coalition Priorité Cancer au Québec is asking the Minister of Health and Social Services to speed up revision of the new drugs evaluation and listing process.

 

“Added months can make a serious difference in a patient’s survival,” points out Serge Dion, cancer survivor and chairman of the Coalition Priorité Cancer au Québec’s Patients and Survivors Committee. “For example, a few extra months or more can give patients a chance to participate in a new clinical research protocol for an innovative treatment or obtain an enhanced new drug. It is also an opportunity for patients to spend more time with their loved ones, such time often being of greater quality. How many patients do we see who used to have a life expectancy of just a few months and now, years later, are still among us,” states Serge Dion.

 

The Coalition welcomes Bill no 28 which henceforth gives Health and Social Services minister Gaétan Barrette the power to negotiate agreements for the listing of new drugs liable to generate drug cost savings. The Coalition’s president would remind us of Premier Philippe Couillard’s stated intention to have Quebec be part of the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, whose members include the other Canadian provinces, for the purchasing of drugs.