An ambitious promise by Canada’s Liberal government to radically cut drug prices in one of the world’s most expensive markets seems to be in tatters after a flurry of resignations from its independent regulator.
Last week saw the surprise departure of Douglas Clark, the executive director of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), after 10 years at the helm. This came three days after board member Matthew Herder, a professor of health law at Dalhousie University and prominent critic of industry pricing practices, announced his resignation in a blistering letter to federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos that accused the ministry of folding to lobbyists.1
“It is difficult enough for a sector-specific regulator to do its job in the face of a hostile industry,” wrote Herder. “But when government adds its voice to that of industry, all that lies before the regulator is an endless tunnel with no light.”
Herder …