Province launches “Fair Drug Prices for Nova Scotians”
Posted Sep 20, 2010 05:08:46 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotians are paying more for generic prescription drugs than most developed countries in the world, and Minister of Health Maureen MacDonald says that’s not fair.
“Drug costs to government are growing at a rapid rate,” she said at a news conference Monday morning.
“Our pharmacare costs have almost doubled over the past eight years, and as a province we simply cannot afford to continue down this path.”
The plan announced by government is aimed at getting better prices along with reigning in the growth of drug costs in Nova Scotia.
An interim measure the NDP government is taking is to issue a Request for Proposal for the drug atorvastatin. It is a generic version of Lipitor, the most commonly-prescribed cholesterol treatment in the province and the single drug that accounts for the largest part of spending through Pharmacare.
Government will also be holding consultations with 20 interested groups in the province. That will happen over a three week period.
And that has the opposition wondering why government is making the announcement when there’s still a long way to go before any savings are found. Liberal Health Critic Diana Whalen says “now, with a big fanfare, we’re going out to talk to the stakeholders, and it’s going to be condensed into less than a month.”
“It seems to me they haven’t done this in the right way. That they should now have a plan in place so this winter we can start the savings.”
Health officials say they will get better drug prices by setting generic drug prices, limiting pharmacy rebates, tending for one or more drugs, establishing rules around price increases and defining the price paid to pharmacies for drugs.
More information is on the Department of Health website: www.gov.ns/health/fairdrugprices
