[Viva] FW: CTAC Daily Info - April 29

Thu Apr 29 21:14:18 PDT 2010

Subject: CTAC Daily Info - April 29

In this e-mail:

1.    China repeals ban on HIV-positive visitors

1.    VIDEO - Discussion with Ron Rosenes on Generic Drug Policy Changes in
Ontario

2.    Ontario warns other provinces pharmacy chains could profit at their
expense 

1.

China repeals ban on HIV-positive visitors

Last Updated: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 | 10:17 PM ET 
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/04/27/china-hiv-travel-ban.html 

The Associated Press 

China has scrapped a 20-year-old travel ban that barred people with HIV and
AIDS from entering the country just days ahead of the opening of the
Shanghai Expo, which hopes to welcome millions of overseas visitors.

China's cabinet, the State Council, said in a statement posted to its
website late Tuesday that the government passed amendments on April 19
revising the Border Quarantine Law as well as China's Law on Control of the
Entry and Exit of Aliens. The changes were effective immediately.

The decision follows similar moves by the United States and South Korea to
eliminate travel restrictions for people with HIV. Both lifted their bans on
visitors with HIV on Jan. 1.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed China's decision and urged other
countries that still bar people with HIV to change their laws as soon as
possible.

"I commend President Hu Jintao for China's decision to remove travel
restrictions based on HIV status," Ban said in a statement. "Punitive
policies and practices only hamper the global AIDS response."

The Shanghai Expo begins Saturday and runs for six months. 

2.

Discussion on Generic Drug Policy Changes in Ontario

A long and somewhat heated segment on generic drug policy changes in Ontario
with participation from Ron Rosenes. The segment is in French for those who
can understand.

http://www2.tfo.org/Panorama/Accueil/2010-04-27/7332 

3.

Ontario warns other provinces pharmacy chains could profit at their expense 

Drugstore in Ontario. Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail

Dispute heats up as minister suggests drugstores could buy low in Ontario,
sell high to consumers elsewhere under province’s plan to cut costs

Karen Howlett Toronto

>From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2010 4:00AM
EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2010 12:25PM EDT 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-warns-other-provinces-p
harmacy-chains-could-profit-at-their-expense/article1549225/  

Ontario is warning that pharmacy chains, fighting a policy war with the
province, could seek to boost their profits at the expense of consumers
across the country.

In her latest salvo in a highly public battle, Health Minister Deb Matthews
sent a letter Tuesday to every provincial and territorial health minister,
saying that once Ontario completes its plan to chop the cost of generic
prescription drugs in half, pharmacies could make bulk purchases at the new
lower price and sell the drugs to consumers in other provinces at a higher
price.

The big pharmacy chains would not only benefit from higher profit margins,
they would also likely be able to collect so-called professional allowances
from generic manufacturers, Ms. Matthews writes in the letter, a copy of
which was obtained by The Globe and Mail.

“While not explicitly illegal,” the letter says, “such a practice is
concerning and certainly has price implications for patients and provincial
drug plans from coast to coast to coast.”

Ms. Matthews offers no evidence that such a plan is in fact afoot. But her
letter, which suggests that other provinces should look closely at Ontario’s
planned changes to the way generic drugs are priced, prompted a sharp rebuke
from an industry spokeswoman.

“The Minister has raised speculative scenarios to paint Ontario pharmacies
in a negative light,” Nadine Saby, president of the Canadian Association of
Chain Drug Stores, said in a statement Tuesday evening, adding that she
objects to such maligning of her sector.

“Minister Matthews’ time would be better spent focusing on the front-line
health-care needs of seniors, the chronically ill and parents across Ontario
who are scared that they are on the verge of losing access to pharmacy and
community health-care services.”

The stakes are enormous for both the province, which is trying to rein in
rising costs for health care
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-warns-other-provinces-
pharmacy-chains-could-profit-at-their-expense/article1549225/>
http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif at a time when
it is grappling with a record deficit of $21.3-billion, and for pharmacies,
which say the proposed changes would force many of them to cut back their
operations or close altogether.

The government is proposing to cut the cost of drugs by eliminating the
professional allowances, known as rebates, that drug chains collect from
generic drug manufacturers in return for stocking their product. The
government argues that the rebates, which totalled $815-million last year,
inflate the price of the generic prescriptions.

These payments are how the pharmacy operations of most drugstores make their
profits. Industry officials are upset that the government proposes to cut
the rebates across the board, instead of just on the province’s public drug
plan. The rebates are capped at 20 per cent on the public plan but average
about 40 per cent on private drug plans.

The industry argues that small, family-owned pharmacies will feel the brunt
of the changes, including a decrease in service that will hit seniors the
hardest.

Ms. Matthews’s letter comes just as many other provinces are looking at
reining in drug costs. She suggests putting the topic on the agenda for the
next federal-provincial meeting in September.

“Naturally, we would never presume to advise neighbouring governments as to
how to manage their own health care systems
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-warns-other-provinces-
pharmacy-chains-could-profit-at-their-expense/article1549225/>
http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif,” the letter
says. “However, reforms such as our own in Ontario create new distinctions
between jurisdictions.”

Béatrice Cardin

Communications Manager

Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC)

Phone/Fax:  (416) 410-6538 

 <mailto:ctac at bellnet.ca> ctac at ctac.ca 

w <http://www.ctac.ca/> ww.ctac.ca

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