HEALTH MINISTER ON INTERNET PHARMACIES: TAKE TWO

UNCLAS OTTAWA 001803

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD ECON SOCI CA
SUBJECT: HEALTH MINISTER ON INTERNET PHARMACIES: TAKE TWO
PREVIOUS STATEMENTS AND CALL ME IN A FEW WEEKS

REF: OTTAWA 0525 (CANADA SEEKS REGULATORY

PRESCRIPTION FOR INTERNET PHARMACIES)


1. Summary: At yesterday's meeting of the House Committee
on Health, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh stated that he did
not wish to destroy the internet pharmacy industry, but that
he was committed to addressing potential drug shortages in
Canada and the underlying "ethical questions" of doctors
cosigning prescriptions without seeing the patients in
question. Despite barbed questioning from committee members
who pointed out that he first made statements against the
internet pharmacy trade in November 2004, Minister Dosanjh
provided no new insight into the GOC's likely response to the
internet pharmacy trade, stating only that he would present a
selection of his already-public options to the cabinet in the
next few weeks. Pharmacy regulation in Canada, however, is
primarily the responsibility of the provinces, and therefore
any GOC action may have limited immediate effect. End
Summary.


2. Minister Dosanjh had been invited to testify to the
committee specifically on the internet pharmacy issue, but
instead used his presentation time to focus on other issues
such as ministry transparency and Health Canada's new Adverse
Drug Reaction database. In fact, a committee member asked
(as an ostensible point of order) whether Dosanjh knew why he
had been asked to testify. The hearing was interrupted by a
number of such testy interchanges, particularly between
Minister Dosanjh and Conservative member Steven Fletcher.
Minister Dosanjh tried to highlight recent progress in his
ministry, but these attempts were rebuffed by members who
complained that the above-mentioned database was hard to use
and wait-times for medical treatments are too long (comment:
benchmarks for appropriate wait times aren't expected till
December, and provinces won't be required to report progress
until 2007; Brenda Chamberlain, a member of Dosanjh's own
Liberal party, argued heatedly that even then the federal
government would not have strong enforcement options. End
comment.)


3. On the topic of internet pharmacies, Dosanjh received
barbed questions from both sides, with some members pushing
for action after over six months of promises from Dosanjh and
other members calling on Dosanjh to protect the internet
pharmacy industry. Dosanjh restated the options he has
previously listed for dealing with the internet pharmacy
trade (banning cosigning, controlling exports through a list
of not-for-export drugs or through export licenses, and
requirements that purchasers be physically present in Canada.
See Ottawa 0525) Dosanjh also mentioned the possibility of
banning bulk exports, an option that is viewed positively by
many in Canada because it would allow the internet pharmacy
industry to continue as it has, while countering any possible
U.S. federal or state importation program. Dosanjh said that
he hoped to provide these options to a cabinet meeting in
upcoming weeks, but averred that he would "not be rushed,"
which did little to appease Quebecois members whose ridings
include pharmaceutical companies as constituents (comment: on
the other hand, a western member with internet pharmacy
constituents advocated many more years of monitoring the
industry before taking action). For those members urging
rapid action, much of the concern over the delay seemed to
center around the idea that reacting to any U.S. legislation
would be difficult once Parliament is recessed; Minister
Dosanjh countered that the GOC could take relatively rapid
action under the Export Control Act, but that this would only
be a temporary fix. In fact, any GOC action may have limited
effectiveness since, as we have noted before (ref Ottawa
0525),pharmacy regulation is primarily the responsibility of
the provinces and a number of provinces are protective of
their internet pharmacy industries.


4. Minister Dosanjh resisted a fellow westerner's attempt to
place the issue into the context of an intra-Canadian
regional trade dispute (with primarily-western internet
pharmacies ranged against primarily-eastern pharmaceutical
companies.) Instead, Minister Dosanjh reiterated that his
concern is for security of the Canadian drug supply and the
Canadian drug pricing regime. Minister Dosanjh claimed that
U.S. politicians fall into two camps on this issue: one camp
hoping to "smash the pricing regime in Canada" and the other
camp hoping to bring a similar pricing regime to the United
States. In response, Minister Dosanjh reiterated that he is
firmly committed to protecting the pricing regime in Canada
and the drug supply for Canadians, but that cabinet
confidentiality meant that he couldn't tell the committee how

SIPDIS
he planned to do that.

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DICKSON